In Chad, UNICEF and partners step up emergency response to food crisis

N’DJAMENA, Chad, 11 April 2012 – Khadija’s 6-month-old son, Nawal, had been suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea for days, but she thought it was related to his teething. Finally, when his fever did not go down, she brought him to a clinic in N’Djamena, where he was diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition.

Even in a normal year, Chad has one of the highest rates of chronic malnutrition in the world.  The region experiences a yearly ‘lean’ or ‘hunger’ season, and according to UNICEF data from 2010, 15.7 per cent of children under age 5 were already suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

But in 2011, the rains did not come.

The failed rains, coupled with low crop yields, are causing a dramatic increase in rates of malnutrition – not only in Chad, but throughout the Sahel region.

Read the full article here.

In Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, assisting children alone in the big city - February 2012

UNICEF’s flagship report, ‘The State of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an Urban World," launched at the end of February, focusing attention on children in urban areas. One billion children live in urban areas, a number that is growing rapidly. Yet disparities within cities reveal that many lack access to schools, health care and sanitation, despite living alongside these services.

This story is part of a series highlighting the needs of these children.

ABIDJAN, Côte d'Ivoire, 21 February 2012 – After a fight with his father, 9-year-old Junior Coulibaly left his house in a huff. It was a Friday afternoon in mid-January 2011. Nine months would pass before he would see his father again.

Junior was playing in his neighbourhood of Yopougon, one of the country’s largest slums, when conflict erupted – the result of tension that had been building since the presidential elections six weeks earlier.

Read complete article here.

Somalia 2011

Below is a selection of stories from my time working with the UNICEF Somalia communications team. These stories were shot by Mohamed Sheik Nur in Mogadishu, and written and edited by myself.


Child Friendly Spaces in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, Somalia, 9 November 2011 - For hundreds of thousands of displaced Somali children, daily life is a mixture of fear and insecurity. Communities break apart, as one by one families leave their villages to flee ongoing conflict. If they survive the journey to Mogadishu, life is not much easier, as they are faced with the daily challenge of finding food and shelter.

For children, this experience can be traumatizing. Having fled their homes in search of safety, they find themselves in overcrowded camps, away from all they know.

Read full article here.

Crisis continues 100 days after famine was declared in Somalia

NAIROBI, Kenya, 28 OCTOBER 2011 – Just two months ago, three-year-old Moktar Mohamed was on the verge of death. After his parents lost their livestock and crops to the drought, they travelled by foot and truck from Middle Shabelle to Mogadishu, a trek of over 100 kilometres.

When they arrived, little Moktar was just skin and bones, one of the hundreds of thousands of children in Somalia suffering from serious malnutrition.

Read the full article and watch the video here.