The United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that 1.4 children from four counties are at risk of death from severe acute malnutrition, this year.
Famine looms in parts of Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, and time is “running out for more than a million children”, the world body said.
“We can still save many lives,” UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said, “The severe malnutrition and looming famine are largely man-made.” According to the report, the number of children with severe acute malnutrition in northeast Nigeria is expected to reach 450,000 this year while in South Sudan more than 270,000 children are severely malnourished.
In Somalia, UNICEF said, almost half the population, or 6.2 million people, are facing acute food insecurity and are in need of humanitarian assistance. Some 185,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year, however this figure is expected to rise to 270,000 in the next few months, the organisation added.
And in Yemen, the UNICEF estimates that 462,000 children are currently suffering from severe acute malnutrition – a nearly 200 per cent increase since 2014.
All the four countries have been ravaged by conflict. Urging the world to take action, UNICEF Executive Director Lake went on the say, “Our common humanity demands faster action.”
