Niger in Crisis: the latest images
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Action Against Hunger responds to the crisis in Niger
In Niger, the world’s least developed country, seven million people are going hungry. Nearly half a million children under the age of five have acute malnutrition and face permanent damage or death if not treated in time. Drought, crop failure, erratic rainfall and high food prices have all triggered severe food shortages, forcing people to leave their homes and sell their starving livestock. With the next harvest not due until September, many people face the next few months desperately in need of humanitarian assistance.
In response to the crisis, Action Against Hunger is treating thousands of severely malnourished children, helping families generate income, and supporting food security programmes to enhance resilience against future crises. The programmes are supported by UKAid from DFID.
Action Against Hunger has set up nutrition units in local hospitals in response to the ongoing malnutrition crisis thanks to support from UKAid from DFID. Here, a severely malnourished child is treated with therapeutic milk.
A child’s upper-arm circumference is measured to determine whether he is malnourished. Action Against Hunger is screening children directly and providing training for local nurses on the detection of malnutrition.
Too weak to drink or eat solids, one of the children at the centre must be fed therapeutic milk through a naso-gastric tube to provide her with the nutrients and vitamins she needs to survive.
Mothers stay with their severely malnourished children while they are treated at the hospital nutrition unit in the Maradi region. Once a child’s health improves, they will return to their villages and receive weekly check-ups at the local health centre
Staff members track the health status of malnourished children who are treated in an Action Against Hunger nutrition unit supported by UKAID from DFID
Poor hygiene and sanitation can cause disease and lead to high malnutrition rates. Action Against Hunger helps communities build latrines and adopt safe practices like hand-washing that reduce the risk of water-borne diseases
Action Against Hunger implements hygiene promotion sessions to reduce the risk of malnutrition and disease.
“I remember when there were lakes, and we were eating fish every day. It was paradise on earth. Then several dams broke and we never had the resources to retain any water. The fields are now destroyed and our land is increasingly arid” says a leader of the Tahoua district of Niger.
Devastating drought is often met with heavy sporadic rains that destroy dams and flood fields. Sporadic heavy rainfall makes what few roads exist difficult to traverse, cutting communities off from food market
Facing major food insecurity the hansa fruit has become the main food source for millions of people in Niger. Bitter and toxic in its natural form, it is boiled four or five times, smashed and then diluted in water before consumption
Action Against Hunger staff members work with a community in the Maradi region of Niger to construct a wall that will protect their crops
In some regions, food is still available at local markets, but at an inflated price. To increase access, Action Against Hunger has launched a “cash-for-work” scheme. Here, participants are provided with an income to meet their basic needs by helping to construct a small dam, preventing heavy rains from destroying the community’s crops.
Jahadi, a widow with four children, is a recipient of the “cash-for-work” scheme. Thanks to the money earned she was able to buy a goat and provide food for herself and her children.
Action Against Hunger’s “cash-for-training” programme provides community members who are unable to work with an economic boost while providing training on safe food preparation and basic sanitation and hygiene practices—information that will be passed on to the entire community.
In the Maffarawa village in Maradi, insufficient rainfall caused the water level in their wells to drop nearly 150 feet. Drawing water becomes a daunting task for the community, as donkeys and oxen are sometimes needed to resurface the water
After suffering long periods of intolerable drought, everyone tries to grow their crops at the slightest sign of rain to take advantage of existing humidity. If it rains again, then the seeds will germinate and produce some millet.
All images © Gonzalo Höhr / Action Against Hunger
