The West African country of Niger is facing a humanitarian crisis following a lethal combination of poor rainfall in 2005 and a locust infestation.

Save the Children’s nutrition and medical teams have found shockingly high levels of malnutrition amongst children. Toby Porter, Director of Emergencies, says, "Without urgent assistance a quarter of the country’s 12 million people will go hungry, and as always children are especially vulnerable. Our emergency team is working hard to ensure that the most vulnerable children are given the best chance of survival." Our team will be focusing on providing children at risk of acute malnutrition with the treatment they urgently need. We are targeting our food and health activities to reach the malnourished and their families, including operating a Feeding Centre from where we will provide "Plumpy Nut" (a peanut-based paste) to children at risk. The high protein food supplement is part of an intensive, controlled feeding programme for moderate and severely malnourished children and their families. In addition we are working to ensure the Ministry of Health has the essential medical supplies they need in the region in order to address the health needs children, particularly immunisation from measles and tetanus. Niger is one of the world’s least developed countries in the world, ranked 176th out of 177 countries in the UN’s Human Development Index. 63% of the population live below the poverty line and in the Maradi and Zinder regions (where our teams are based) around 350 children out of every 1000 fail to live until their fifth birthday. To read this article online ot to access any related downloads click here. Save the Children fights for children in the UK and around the world who suffer from poverty, disease, injustice and violence. We work with them to find lifelong answers to the problems they face. For more information about our work visit our website www.savethechildren.org.uk