According to new report released today by UN, a million children in Borno state,
North-East Nigeria, face severe malnourishment and risk death, as the scale of the humanitarian crisis caused by the Boko
Haram emergency continues to unfold. They said out of the 244,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition
in Borno this year, an estimated 49,000 children โ almost 1 in 5 โ will
die if they are not reached with treatment.
โSome 134 children on average will die every day from causes linked
to acute malnutrition if the response is not scaled up quickly,” said
Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for Western and Central
Africa, who just returned from a visit to Borno state. “We need all
partners and donors to step forward to prevent any more children from
dying. No one can take on a crisis of this scale alone.”
While visiting newly accessible sites, previously under Boko Haram
control, Fontaine witnessed destroyed towns accommodating displaced
people, families with little access to adequate sanitation, water or
food, and thousands of frail children in desperate need of help.
“There are 2 million people we are still not able to reach in Borno
state, which means that the true scope of this crisis has yet to be
revealed to the world,โ Fontaine said. “There are organizations on the
ground doing great work, but none of us are able to work at the scale
and quality that we need. We must all scale up.”
You can read full report http://www.unicef.org/media/media_91911.html
