NIGER / MALNUTRITION

Children are bearing the brunt of a devastating food crisis in Niger and the situation is getting worse despite the arrival of this season's first rains. Nearly 80 percent of the population is now affected by food insecurity. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:55
• Production Date: 3 August 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: NUTRITION; HUMANITARIAN RELIEF
• Geographic Subject: NIGER
• MAMS Id: U100803a

Description

STORY: NIGER / MALNUTRITION
TRT: 1:55
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: HAUSA /FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: JULY 2010, ZINDER PROVINCE, NIGER

Shotlist

1. Close up, baby crying
2. Tilt down, mother and 2 kids
3. Close up, baby suckling
4. Med shot, mother & child
5. Tilt down, mother and crying baby
6.SOUNDBITE (French) Illa Malamam, head nurse:
“In recent weeks we’re seeing a lot of cases of malnourished children and this is a result of a lack of food at home. The women, the parents simply cannot take care of their children.”
7. Wide shot, barren landscape
8. Wide shot, family walking
9. Wide shot, family picking berries
10. Med shot, family picking berries
11. Wide shot, family picking in barren landscape
12. Close up, plate with berries
13. SOUNDBITE (Hausa) Raya Sahi, mother:
“It’s is a disaster. In this village and all those around us we don’t have any food. It’s been more than 3 weeks since I’ve even seen a single seed.. All that we are left with are these leaves and wild fruit.”
14. Tracking shot, baby carrying berries
15. Med shot, 2 hungry girls
16. SOUNDBITE (French) Elizabeth Zanou, Nutrition officer, UNICEF:
“We are preparing for a very difficult year in terms food and are expecting nearly 400,000 severely malnourished across Niger”
17. Tilt down, medical staff measure baby
18. Close up, scale
19. Med shot, mother removes baby from scale
20. Close up, Plumpy-nut package
21. Med shot, medical staff and baby
22. Med shot, mother and malnourished baby
23. SOUNDBITE (French) Guido Cornale Representative Niger, UNICEF:
“It is the small children, those under 2 who suffer the worst consequences of the crisis because they don’t have enough to eat, because they’re the most susceptible to disease and because there is a vicious cycle between malnutrition and sickness. A sick child doesn’t eat and an undernourished child gets sick more often.”
24. Med shot, sick baby
25. Wide shot, mother and baby in ward
26. Med shot, NGO officer with bullhorn
27. Wide shot, food distribution
28, Med shot, food distribution
29, Med shot, mothers and babies
30. Wide shot, mother on line
31. Close up, cooking oil
32. Close up, scooping sugar
33. Wide shot, women leave distribution
34. Wide shot, farmers tilling
35, Med shot, boy plants seeds
36. Med shot, mother & child
37. Close up, newborn infant
38. Close up, mother feed baby

Storyline

In Niger, children are bearing the brunt of a devastating food crisis.

And the situation is getting worse despite the arrival of this season’s first rains.

Health centers across the country are filled with malnourished infants and anxious mothers.

And each day more and more arrive.

SOUNDBITE (French) Illa Malamam, head nurse:
“In recent weeks we’re seeing a lot of cases of malnourished children and this is a result of a lack of food at home. The women, the parents simply cannot take care of their children.”

Niger’s current food emergency is a result of last year’s erratic rains which caused a countrywide crop failure.

In many villages there’s nothing left to eat.

For months Raya Sahi and her seven children have been surviving on Anza, a wild fruit that survives drought.

SOUNDBITE (Hausa) Raya Sahi, mother:
“It’s is a disaster. In this village and all those around us we don’t have any food. It’s been more than 3 weeks since I’ve even seen a single seed.. All that we are left with are these leaves and wild fruit.”

This region which borders the Sahara desert is prone to cycles of drought and food shortages; but this is one of the worst in memory.

SOUNDBITE (French) Elizabeth Zanou, Nutrition officer, UNICEF:
“We are preparing for a very difficult year in terms food and are expecting nearly 400,000 severely malnourished across Niger”

UNICEF together with its un and NGO partners are helping Niger’s public health sector cope with the crisis. Most malnourished children can simply be treated by giving them a high energy paste called Plumpy-nut which is supplied by UNICEF.

But the most severe cases do not respond to Plumpy-nut they have to be referred to special health centers called CRENIS

SOUNDBITE (French) Guido Cornale Representative Niger, UNICEF:
“It is the small children, those under 2 who suffer the worst consequences of the crisis because they don’t have enough to eat, because they’re the most susceptible to disease and because there is a vicious cycle between malnutrition and sickness. A sick child doesn’t eat and an undernourished child gets sick more often.”

To break this cycle UNICEF has helped the government launch a blanket feeding program in partnership with the World Food Program and other NGO partners which is expected to reach 500,000 children countrywide this year.

Mothers who have a least one child between 6 months and 2 years old receive a monthly ration of oil, sugar and fortified flour to protect their children from malnutrition

While there is hope for a better harvest this season, Niger’s food crisis will continue until at least the end of the year. And so too will the efforts of UNICEF and its partners to ensure that as many as possible of the country’s youngest and most vulnerable are spared the consequences.