United Nations, Sept 2: Without lifesaving aid, nearly 1 million children under 5 in Mali face acute malnutrition by December this year, with at least 200,000 people threatened with starvation, a UN spokesman said on Friday.
A combination of protracted armed conflict, internal displacement and restricted humanitarian access prompted the grim warning from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Dujarric said that almost a quarter of Mali’s population suffers from moderate or acute food insecurity. For the first time, more than 2,500 people are at risk of famine in the crisis-affected region of Menaka, many of them children.
UNICEF said that senior humanitarian officials from UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) visited the country this week to reiterate support in cooperation with local authorities and humanitarian partners.
“Mali is going through a complex humanitarian crisis and needs urgent support to avert a disaster for children, who are again paying the highest price for a crisis not of their making,” Ted Chaiban, UNICEF deputy executive director for humanitarian action and supply operations, said in a statement.
“UNICEF, WFP and partners have been present on the ground during some of Mali’s hardest years, and we will continue to work on humanitarian and development issues for as long as our services are needed,” he added.
Nearly 5 million children urgently need humanitarian assistance in Mali, including health, nutrition, education and protection services, as well as access to safe water, UNICEF said. The number reflects an increase of more than 1.5 million children in need since 2020.
UNICEF and WFP urgently appeal for 184.4 million U.S. dollars to reach 8.8 million people in Mali this year, including 4.7 million children.
The agencies said that funding would be essential to provide emergency food assistance to vulnerable populations and support medical services, including fuel to keep vaccines cold and to buy more humanitarian supplies, such as lifesaving treatments for children with malnutrition.
While the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, is leaving the country by year’s end, UN agencies said they would remain to deliver relief.
(UNI)
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