Niger Food Crisis
More than 7.1 million children and families are at risk from the severe food crisis that has affected Niger. As a result of widespread crop failure, the weakening of millions of livestock and high food prices, more than half of Niger’s population are short of food. This situation continues to worsen under the current heavy rainfall and localised flooding affecting the area.
During times of crisis, children are the most vulnerable. Niger already has one of the highest rates of child deaths in the world. Under the current crisis, there is a surge in the number of children suffering from cholera, diarrhoea, malaria and respiratory infections. These conditions have directly contributed to the rise in malnutrition. This means that an astonishing 307,000 children are predicted to suffer from extreme malnutrition by the end of this year.
“During the rainy season malaria and water borne diseases kill more children aged under five than anything else.”
“Children in Zinder are already incredibly vulnerable as they have been without enough food for months and their immune systems are already desperately weak.”
Ibrahima Fall, Country Director for Save the Children in Niger
To cope families have been forced to reduce the number of meals they eat, or eating the food that is intended for animals. Others are taking their children out of school and sending them out to find work to help support their families. Many people cannot afford to buy food due to high food prices which have risen by 20% per year every year since 2007.
Children as young as five are reported to be making epic journeys of up to 1000km across Niger with their families to beg for food in the streets of the capital, Niamey. The food crisis in Niger risks being a silent child survival emergency.
The situation requires urgent assistance from the humanitarian community in order to prevent more than 300,000 children becoming severely malnourished and tens of thousands of children dying. There is an opportunity for effective recovery activities immediately after the harvest period, but failure to act now will keep families dependent on external aid until the 2011 harvest.
Families struggle
Aicha’s crops failed this year so it has been a struggle to provide food for her family. Her youngest child Mamansani is underweight and has been coming to the feeding centre for three weeks.
“Mamansani has been ill for a month now with a fever, diarrhoea and vomiting. The community volunteers came to our village and weighed and measured him. They referred him to the supplementary feeding centre. I wasn’t surprised because he wasn’t well. He only 6.5kg weighed when he was admitted and today he weighs 5.6kg.
“The health of my child is my priority. I think of my child’s health above all. I know people who’ve gone to the feeding centre with their children. The children who’ve gone there have got better.
Our work in Niger
Save the Children has worked in Niger since 2005, when a major food crisis caused 150,000 children to become severely malnourished. Since November 2009, we have been scaling up our response in some of the worst-affected communities to provide more families with life-saving food and medical treatment in order to reduce the rate of mortality among children under 5.
Every child is born with the right to survive – but not an equal chance. Save the Children has launched our global EVERY ONE campaign to end this injustice. As part of our campaign we are calling on the international community to keep their promises to reduce the deaths of children under five. In September, world leaders met in New York to review progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.
Please join our campaign and together we can stop children dying needlessly.
Children in Niger are hungry. If we don’t act now many thousands of them will die this summer. We have the know-how and capacity to stop this tragedy but we must act now. Save the Children needs your support for our immediate and long term response to the current child hunger crisis in Niger.
More on our response
Personal Accounts
Read Voices from the field, Hear from Rachel Palmer, Information and Communications Officer in Niger (9 June 2010)
Read the story of Aisha (23 June 2010) and Mariana (14 May 2010)
Updates and Press Releases
Severe flooding is causing further devastation in Niger (13 August 2010)
Children traveling up to 1000km to beg on city streets as food crisis deepens in Niger (02 June 2010)
1.2 million children in Niger at risk of malnutrition, Save the Children warns (30 April 2010)
Photographs and Videos
The Story of Saminou (06 June 2010)
Desperate food crisis threatens lives in Niger (04 June 2010)
Watch Peter Sykes talk about the situation for children in Niger (14 May 2010)