Mansoura, 9 months, admitted to the Save the Children
supported stabilisation clinic in Aguie, Niger, weighing 3.9kg

Up to 380,000 children under the age of five - one in eight – are facing severe malnutrition as a result of crop failure caused by an unexpectedly long drought. At the same time food prices have soared by 30 per cent.

In a desperate attempt to get food, children as young as five are travelling hundreds of kilometres across the country to the capital, Niamey, with their families to beg on the city streets.

“Usually at this time of year when food has run out but the next harvest is yet to come, men leave the villages in search of work,” Rachel Palmer of Save the Children in Niger said. “This year women and children are leaving too because of the increased hardship families are facing. For many this means travelling great distances and results in children being forced to beg.”

More than half of Niger’s population - 7.1 million people - already don't have enough food as a result of the food crisis. The United Nations has warned that the situation looks set to become worse than Niger’s last major food crisis in 2005.

High rates of child deaths

Niger is the poorest country in Africa and already has one of the highest child death rates in the world. One in six children don’t make it to their fifth birthday. This latest crisis will put even more children at risk.

“The Transition Government in Niger has appealed for urgent assistance, but the response from other rich governments and international donors has been slow and insufficient,” said Ibrahima Fall, Save the Children's Country Director in Niger. “The extent of this crisis is being grossly underestimated and far more children will die if we don't act fast.”

What we're doing

Save the Children has launched an emergency fundraising appeal so it can scale up its work in the country and provide more families with life-saving food and medical treatment. We are urging international donors to pledge more money immediately to enable aid agencies to stave off disaster.

We have expanded our work in three remote rural areas – Zinder, Maradi and Diffa – to reach more vulnerable children and their families, so they aren’t forced to come to the cities to beg. We’re providing monthly cash transfers to help tide families over until the next harvest, as well as treating severely malnourished children.

Support our Niger appeal

Read our latest blogs from Niger

Find out more about our EveryOne campaign