A
10-month-old baby sits on the lap of his mother, Halima, outside
their home in the commune of Illela, some 30km south of Tahoua,
the provincial capital of one of the regions in Niger hardest
hit by the latest hunger crisis.
She is feeding her baby spoonfuls of a nutritious porridge made
from Unimix, a vitamin-enriched flour that has been distributed
to 177 children in this commune by the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
“He’s got so much better; it’s a total change
from how he was before,” says Halima. “From the
moment he was born, he has suffered from illnesses, all because
of malnutrition.”
Jacouba’s belly is still visibly distended from the chronic
lack of food in his short life, but his eyes are bright and
his breathing is easy. Halima is happy to report that he has
started breast-feeding again, his appetite is back.
A drought combined with a locust plague decimated last year’s
harvest in Niger, forcing grain prices up and animal prices
down. It left Halima’s family and tens of thousands like
them in an impossibly vulnerable position.
“Our situation was a catastrophe, I was so worried about
Jacouba,” she says. “We had no food and we had to
rely on what we were given by some relatives.”
The families of malnourished children also received two sacks
of rice to prevent the child’s ration from being divided
up among them.
Red Cross and Red Crescent distributions in Niger began at the
beginning of August, targeting some 24,500 children and their
families in the regions of Tahoua, Maradi, Zinder and Agadez.
The International Federation has expanded its own appeal for
assistance and is now planning to reach some 532,000 people
over the next six months in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.
Red Cross and Red Crescent teams based in Tahoua have distributed
to almost 1,700 children so far out of a target for the region
of 8,000. Jacouba’s is a success story, but much is still
to be done and life for many remains precarious in the extreme.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it here,”
says Dr Amadou Kambewasso, the district health ministry officer.
“People have no money for food, let alone medicine. They
just do not bother coming for treatment because they can’t
afford anything.”
Dr Kambewasso does not want to speculate in detail on what would
have happened here without the arrival of humanitarian aid,
saying only it would have got “much, much worse”.
He adds that it will be at least another month, when the harvest
is due, before the situation stands any chance of stabilising.
For the time being, though, he is just relieved the Red Cross
and Red Crescent is here providing free food distribution. “I
am very happy that they came,” he says.
Aside from the feeding centres for malnourished children, the
International Red Cross has also undertaken to distribute a
general public ration of millet, sorghum, lentils and oil supplied
by the World Food Programme to more than 220,000 people in the
regions of Tillaberi and Agadez.
Figures of this magnitude can be distracting. Back in Illela,
the underlying meaning, the point of it all, is there for anyone
to see. Halima feeds her son, a sack of rice sits in the corner.
“I have hope in the future now,” she smiles.
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Halima
is relieved that Jacouba has regained some strength thanks
to the supplementary feeding. (p13191)
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At
Illela commune, the harvest is due in three weeks. (p13192)
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Jacouba,
10 months, eats the nutritious porridge that was distributed
to more than 170 other children in his commune. (p13194)
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Illela
commune is in one of the regions that has been hardest
hit by the hunger crisis. (p13193)
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