2023-09-01 17:38:22
MADRID, 1 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Nearly a million children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition in Mali as a result of a series of crises that include the armed conflict, internal displacement and problems with the distribution of aid, according to the UN, which estimates that 200,000 of these minors may even die of starvation.
Currently, almost a quarter of Mali’s population suffers from moderate or acute food insecurity, while more than 2,500 people are at risk of famine in the Menaka region of northern Mali, an unprecedented situation.
In the specific case of children, close to five million children need urgent humanitarian aid, which represents an increase of at least 1.5 million compared to the data collected in 2020.
The deputy executive director of Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Ted Chaiban, has warned that Mali needs “urgent support” to “avoid a disaster”, since again the children ” They are paying the highest price for a crisis that they did not cause.
The deputy executive director and chief operating officer of the World Food Program (WFP), Carl Skau, has agreed that Mali must receive “the attention it deserves”. “At a time of global upheaval, we do not have the right to choose who to rescue, but we do have a duty to work together to save and change lives,” he claimed.
Despite the urgency, the UN needs more funds: this year it has barely raised 21 percent of the 751.4 million US dollars (about 693 million euros) that its humanitarian program includes. UNICEF and WFP urgently need US$184.4 million (€170 million) to reach 8.8 million people by 2023, including 4.7 million children.
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