Drought-Ravaged Niger: The 'Hunger Season' - Some weakened kids are 'letting themselves die

If only Newsweek and journalists like Eric Pape could read yesterday's post here below, they might report the fact that emergency aid does not come cheap when it is flown in at the last minute and by not coming in time, it costs countless lives and unimagineable suffering.

Newsweek August 15, 2005 features an article on Niger by Eric Pape. Note this excerpt:

At the latest count, 160,000 children in Niger were still suffering from serious malnutrition, and the lives of 32,000 were at immediate risk.

August is always a hard time in Niger. They call it the hunger season - when all the grain has been eaten and the autumn harvest has not begun. This year, food ran short months ago. Relief groups have been warning of an impending famine since last October, but their pleas went mostly unheard, especially after the South Asian tsunami in December. The delay's consequences were visible last week all around Maradi, a town of perhaps 150,000 inhabitants in the southern grasslands. Doctors and aid workers at the Center for Muslims of Africa couldn't handle all those seeking food for their children. Overflow crowds blocked the entrances, banging on the metal gates and howling to get in.

Also, Eric Pape writes:

Can Niger's next crisis be prevented? Nearly a quarter of the country's 12 million or so people have no money for food when crops fail. What they need, development experts say, are modern farm tools, irrigation equipment and seed to raise crops that are more productive, more diverse and drought-resistant. Emergency aid isn't cheap - and it never comes in time to save all the children.

Links and reports in Newsweek's sidebar:

An article in Newsweek Augusut 5, 2005 entitled "Crisis in Niger" says a perfect storm of negatives has led to a food crisis for millions. Excerpt:

It was a crisis-in-the-making that should have been averted, says Mark Malloch Brown, chief of staff to the U.N. secretary-general. "What is happening was largely foreseeable as early as November," he says.

But despite appeals for donations then, the Asian tsunami and then the violence-plagued famine in the Darfur region of Sudan diverted attention from Niger.

"We do find it hard to deal with more than one crisis," says Malloch Brown.

In fact, it wasn't until British television aired reports last month that Niger was seen as a place in desperate need. Now, a crisis that could have been treated last year for about a dollar for each person in need will now cost eight times that much, and perhaps thousands of lives.

Also, the article quotes an aid worker:

In a country that's not at war and has no problems of access, people are hungry to the point of death because help simply didn't get there quickly.

"It's one of the easier countries [to help]. It's one of the countries that we shouldn't have let slip," says Dominic MacSorley, a veteran aid worker with Concern Worldwide.

Photo: A woman who received goods from a U.N. food program smiles as she walks home in the small town of Tsaki, Niger, on Tuesday. (Schalk Van Zuydam/AP courtesy Newsweek)

Related stories at Newsweek:

August 4, 2005 - Niger's children most at risk video: Of Niger's 12 million people, more than a fourth are at risk for extreme hunger and malnutrition, the United Nations says, with children especially vulnerable. Geraint Vincent of Britain's ITN reports.



August 8, 2005 "Africa: Crisis in Niger & Sudan" Dan Toole, Director, Office of Emergency Programs, UNICEF and Suliman Baldo, Program Director for Africa, International Crisis Group. Click here for audio clip, complete show, podcast.

August 5, 2005 (Associated Press) U.N. issues urgent appeal for Niger: Hunger caused by drought, locusts threatens hundreds of thousands.

July 30, 2005 (Reuters) Famine alert U.N. urges help for Niger: Health agency says dramatic increase in disease is possible.

Millions in Niger face starvation despite well-stocked markets, over half of nation survives on $1 per day

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African musicians to raise money for Niger hunger

August 5, 2005 via MSNBC.com NIAMEY (Reuters):

A host of African musicians will stage a concert to raise money to fight a hunger crisis in Niger on Saturday, where an estimated 3.6 million people are facing food shortages, the culture ministry said.

Among the artists expected to perform in the main 30,000 capacity stadium in the capital Niamey will be Ivorian singers Dj Christy B, TV5 Fouka Fouka and Kilabongo and Nigerien groups Kaydan Gaskiya, Queen ZM and Kamikaze

Tags: Niger Newsweek Eric Pape journalists UN famine hunger season malnutrition Center for Muslims of Africa Maradi