Niger: Enough is enough

The crisis in Niger has been underestimated. It’s certainly underfunded. And it’s an outrage. Last week a new survey in Niger stated that 500,000 more people are severely food insecure than previously estimated, bringing the total to 3.3 million – that’s the entire population of Melbourne, Australia.

I’ve written this figure so many times over the last week in my blogs, in press releases, in tweets and on facebook that it’s almost started to become meaningless.

Today the reality of these numbers — the reality of what ‘severely food insecure’ really means — begins to hit home. What it means to mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters…

I was back visiting one of our intensive care clinics for severely malnourished children. I thought every child in the ward last time I was here was in a bad condition. Two weeks later, the severity of the cases coming in has got worse. On every bed a child was clinging onto life, often the child’s head was too heavy for it’s tiny, weakened neck to hold up anymore.

One child, just by the door as I entered the ward, was so thin, I can’t even describe what he looked like. His mother was holding him in her arms willing him to live. Sadly, he didn’t.

This is the reality for 10,000 children in Niger already. This is the reality facing 378,000 more children if we, that’s EVERY ONE of us, don’t do something right now. It’s unjust and it’s an outrage that in this day and age children are dying from not having enough to eat.

You can donate to our Niger appeal.

Tell everyone you know about what’s happening to children every day in Niger.

If you’re a journalist you can write about the fate facing millions of children.

If you’re a politician there’s so much you can do to stop this happening. We can all do something, however small it may seem.

Read more about our response to the hunger crisis in Niger.
Find out more about our EVERY ONE campaign.