DOUALA, Cameroon

Nearly one million children in three central Sahel countries will face severe acute malnutrition this year due to rising food prices, conflict and climate change, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday.

UNICEF called on the governments of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso "to place child nutrition at the top of national priorities" and "increase national investments in the prevention, early detection and treatment of malnutrition."

"Approximately 970,000 children" will face severe wasting in the three countries, the UN agency said, adding: “Niger faces the highest severe wasting burden in the central Sahel, with a forecast of 430,000 children this year.”

This number represents "60,000" fewer children than in 2022 while "in Mali, severe wasting is expected to increase by 18.4 percent to 367,000 girls and boys, up from 309,000 last year," UNICEF said.

It said in nine Sahelian countries – Burkina Faso, northern Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, northern Nigeria, and Senegal – admissions to health facilities for severe wasting last year increased by 31%, equivalent to 1.9 million children compared to 2021 and compared to the average of the previous three years.

"Increasing insecurity and conflict means that vulnerability is increasing in the region," said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF's regional director for West and Central Africa.

According to her, it is "increasingly difficult to help communities in remote areas."

In a March statement, Poirier said that 10 million children in the central Sahel are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.