United Nations says about 250K children in Borno state suffer from severe malnutrition

According to a new report by the United Nation, about 250 thousand children in Borno state are suffering from severe malnutrition and if they do not receive immediate treatment, tens of thousands of the children may die soon. The report which was released today July 19th, states that out of the 244,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Borno this year, an estimated 49,000 children – almost 1 in 5 – will die if they are not reached with treatment.

“Some 134 children on average will die every day from causes linked to acute malnutrition if the response is not scaled up quickly. We need all partners and donors to step forward to prevent any more children from dying. No one can take on a crisis of this scale alone."said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for Western and Central Africa, who just returned from a visit to Borno state. " While visiting newly accessible parts of Borno state that were previously under Boko Haram control, Fontaine witnessed destroyed towns accommodating displaced people, families with little access to adequate sanitation, water or food, and thousands of frail children in desperate need of help. "There are 2 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,” Fontaine said. "There are organizations on the ground doing great work, but none of us are able to work at the scale and quality that we need. We must all scale up.

[UNICEF]