31 images Created 20 Apr 2023
NGO - FOOD SECURITY: Niger - Child and Mother Malnutrion
Food insecurity affects children under five and women disproportionately, especially in rural areas. Located in the Western Sahel, Niger is at the cross-roads of the climate crisis, Islamic extremism and global rising food prices. Temperatures in the region are rising 1.5 times faster than the rest of the world, leading to erratic rainy seasons and a cycle of droughts that are eroding the 14% of land that is arable. Many parts of the country have not had a good harvest in a decade. Niger has one of the highest demographic growth rates in the world, exacerbated by the fact that Jihadist violence spilling over from neighboring Mali and Nigeria has displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Soaring food and energy prices on global markets due to conflict and economic turmoil abroad are having severe consequences on a country that has one of the highest rates of poverty in the world.
The Maradi region of southern Niger is one of the hardest hit by food insecurity and the influx of refugees. Mothers, suffering from malnutrition themselves, are often unable to breast feed which in turn contributes to malnutrition among their children. At a clinic supported by Save The Children in the town of Aguié, understaffed and under resourced medical personnel attempt to treat the sharply rising numbers of acute malnutrition cases entering the hospital from surrounding villages.
The Maradi region of southern Niger is one of the hardest hit by food insecurity and the influx of refugees. Mothers, suffering from malnutrition themselves, are often unable to breast feed which in turn contributes to malnutrition among their children. At a clinic supported by Save The Children in the town of Aguié, understaffed and under resourced medical personnel attempt to treat the sharply rising numbers of acute malnutrition cases entering the hospital from surrounding villages.
