20100705
africanews

Over 4.5 million people in the drought hit Niger are facing hunger and might die without food aid. According to the World Food Program it is doubling up its efforts in providing food assistance to the affected people.

A statement from the WFP said a government of Niger survey had shown high malnutrition rates among children and that the global acute malnutrition rate for the whole country had reached 16.7 percent for children under five years old. Anything above 15% is normally considered an emergency and WFP is already providing 2.3 million people with food.

The new emergency operation is targeting more children especially between the ages of 6 and 23 months old in order to boost their nutrition levels. This new operations need an extra US$100 million in order for it go on smoothly.

“Poor harvests, erratic rainfall and high food prices have hit countries throughout the Eastern Sahel, including neighbouring Chad. The number of people categorized as "food insecure" in the Sahelian belt of Chad increased from 41 percent of the population in May 2009 to 61 percent in March 2010,” the WFP noted.