‘250,000 children facing death,’ UNICEF says

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July 19, 2016 2:29 PM

This was disclosed by UNICEF Regional Director for Western and Central Africa, Manuel Fontaine after a visit to the state.

Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria (Photo used for illustrative purposes only)

The

This was disclosed by UNICEF Regional Director for Western and Central Africa, Manuel Fontaine after a visit to the state, Daily Trust reports.

“As more areas in the northeast become accessible to humanitarian assistance, the extent of the nutrition crisis affecting children is becoming even more apparent,” Fontaine said.

“Some 134 children on average will die every day from causes linked to acute malnutrition if the response is not scaled up quickly. We need all partners and donors to step forward to prevent any more children from dying. No one can take on a crisis of this scale alone.

“There are 2 million people we are still not able to reach in Borno state, which means that the true scope of this crisis has yet to be revealed to the world. There are organizations on the ground doing great work, but none of us are able to work at the scale and quality that we need. We must all scale up,” Fontaine added.

ALSO READ: NEMA to tackle malnutrition in Borno

A similar alarm was recently raised by the UN which likened the crisis in Borno State to the situation in Darfur, South Sudan.

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