UNICEF Warns Of Severe Malnutrition In Lake Chad Basin

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has again warned of the worsening condition of children around the Lake Chad who face acute malnutrition.

The UN Agency explained that of the 475,000 deemed at risk, 49,000 in Borno State will die in 2014 if they do not receive treatment.

As a result of the growing crisis, the agency has been forced to review its funding needs to $308 million to help support people affected by Boko Haram in four countries that border Lake Chad – Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon.

Humanitarian Needs Outpacing Response

The agency said it had, however, received only $41.2 million, a mere 13% of what it needs to cope with the crisis.

Unicef’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Manuel Fontaine, said: “The Lake Chad crisis is a children’s crisis that should rank high on the global migration and displacement agenda.

“Humanitarian needs are outpacing the response, especially now that new areas previously unreachable in north-east Nigeria become accessible.

“Local communities are sharing the little they have to help those in need in an act of humanity that is replicated in thousands of homes across the conflict-affect areas,” Fontaine told International Business Times.

Recently, the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation donated a million dollars meant for resettling the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno State.