UN warns of widespread child hunger in Nigeria

May 6. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The deputy spokesman for the UN Secretary General, Farhan Haq, warned this Friday at a press conference about “widespread hunger and malnutrition” in northeastern Nigeria, even more serious considering that the lean season is planned for the next month.

“Some 4.3 million people in the conflict-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe are expected to face severe hunger between June and August, with almost 600,000 people facing emergency levels of food shortages,” he explained.

Most seriously, “an estimated 2 million children under the age of five in the three states face emaciation, the most immediate and life-threatening form of malnutrition.”

Haq also reported that the World Food Program “is expanding operations to provide emergency food and nutrition assistance to 2.1 million people, while the United Nations Children’s Fund provides therapeutic treatment to severely emaciated children.” .

In addition, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization “is working to reach 2 million people with packets of seeds to ensure cereal production for the next harvest.”

“The message from our humanitarian partners in Nigeria is urgent: we must scale up interventions, including food and livelihood assistance,” Haq asserted, explaining that $1.3 billion (about $1.16 billion) is needed. euros) and “so far they have only received 11 percent of that amount.