UN warns of a looming famine catastrophe in Chad

UN officials are warning that more children will die across Africa’s Sahel region if international humanitarian assistance is not increased to combat famine.

Unicef estimates that 127,000 children under the age of five in Chad will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year. The hunger crisis extends across many countries including Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso, and the UN estimates one million children this year will require life-saving treatment for severe acute malnutrition in the wider Sahel region.

“These numbers are quite staggering in my opinion. We really need to do something urgently because if we don’t act now then we may take the chance of losing so many children who will die of malnutrition,” said Unicef’s deputy representative to Chad, Dr Marcel Ouattara. He blamed climate change for Chad’s hunger crisis.

The region has not yet recovered from the last drought two years ago and many families lost their herds, which means that they will not have assets to purchase food.

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