Abuja 22 Feb (ANA) - Hundreds of thousands of children under the age of five in north-eastern Nigeria will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year, with up to 20% dying unless more is done to reach them, according to the UN children’s fund, Unicef, and other aid organisations. The estimated number of affected children is now 450,000 (pdf), with 14 million people needing humanitarian assistance across the region. Nigeria is one of four countries the UN has warned is facing famine, along with Somalia, Yemen and South Sudan, where famine was declared on Monday in parts of the country. On Friday, a major international conference, hosted by Nigeria, Norway and Germany, will be held in Oslo aimed at increasing funding for the crisis in north-east Nigeria and the wider Lake Chad region. Nigeria’s north-east has for decades been poor, underdeveloped and dominated by agricultural industry and subsistence farming. In the past four years, the insurgency by Boko Haram has exacerbated problems in the region, leaving it further impoverished and facing a severe lack of food. The insecurity has left many farmers unable to plant or harvest their crops. In Borno state, 5.8 million people face extreme food and nutrition deficits, a figure that has doubled in the past year. According to Doune Porter, chief of communication for Unicef in Nigeria, the international community has failed to grasp the seriousness of the need for financial support in the region. “Last year we had a funding appeal of $115m [£92.4m] but we received just 41%,” he said. “We’ve still managed to do what we can. In the final eight weeks of last year we were able to scale up our aid by 37%. It’s made an impact, but without increased funding these are fragile gains.” When humanitarian workers are able to access insecure areas, helping children suffering from severe acute malnutrition is straightforward, according to Porter. “Treating them is a simple eight-week out-patient process that is really effective in helping develop their diet and health.” Around 1.8 million people are internally displaced with most living in accommodating – but increasingly populated – host communities. In the heat, some mothers feed water to their babies below the age of six months, which has increased malnutrition, especially in areas where water purity is low. Porter said that campaigns have been very effective in explaining to women that feeding infants exclusively with breast milk is the best way to prevent malnutrition.(ANA)

FA/ANA/22 February 2017----