One in Four Niger children Die Before the Age of 5

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NIAMEY/GENEVA – 12 July 2005 – Acute malnutrition rates have risen to 13.4 per cent in southern Niger Maradi and Zinder Regions, with 2.5 per cent of this group identified as severely malnourished children under age five, says UNICEF quoting recent nutrition surveys by the UN and several NGOs.

The food shortage impacts some 3.3 million people – including 800,000 children under age five – in some 3,815 villages. Officials estimate cereal deficits at 223,448 tons and livestock feed deficits at 4,642,219 tons.

At UNICEF-supported therapeutic feeding centres, admissions are rising exponentially. They are at least twice as high as those registered last year for the same period.” [Read more]