Malnutrition may kill thousands of children in Borno – UNICEF

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Malnutrition may kill thousands of children in Borno – UNICEF

The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) says a quarter of a million children in Borno State, are living in dire conditions because of unavailability of food and medical care.
UNICEF said out of 244,000 children found to be suffering from acute malnutrition in Borno State, almost one in five, or roughly 49,000, would die if they failed to get quick medical assistance.

Regional Director for Western and Central Africa, Manuel 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.”

“Partners and donors should offer more resources. No one can take on a crisis of this scale alone.

“There are two 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 organisations on the ground doing great work, but none of us are able to work at the scale and quality that we need. We must scale up”, he added.

In June, Doctors Without Borders, (Médecins Sans Frontières), warned that a “catastrophic emergency” was emerging at a makeshift camp in Borno State’s Bama region, which had about 24,000 people taking refuge inside a hospital compound.