Hunger and malnutrition are threatening the lives of 3.6 million people in Niger – among them 800,000 children under five. UNICEF and its partners have made an emergency appeal for £8.4 million* as famine threatens to spread through the region.

“Out of these 800,000 children, 250,000 are already malnourished, and [another] 30,000 of them are severely malnourished,” said UNICEF Programme Officer Enrico Leonardi.

“The problem is facing Niger now. Unfortunately, we risk seeing it in neighbouring countries, like Nigeria, Mali, and Burkina Faso. We need to tackle this problem as soon as possible, before the situation of these countries deteriorates to become like Niger.”

At UNICEF-supported therapeutic feeding centres, admissions are rising exponentially. So far, UNICEF has trained 80 health workers to treat severely malnourished children and has provided...

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