LAGOS, Nigeria – Aid workers are warning that tens of thousands of children in northeastern Nigeria will die in famine-like conditions created by Boko Haram’s Islamic uprising if food doesn’t reach them quickly.
UNICEF nutritionist Arjan de Wagt says Nigeria’s humanitarian crisis is currently one of the worst in the world because of its severity and the high number of children facing death. He says children are dying but donors are not responding to appeals for aid.
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UNICEF estimates that as many as 75,000 children will die over the next year if they don’t get specialized food and care.
De Wagt says most severely malnourished children die of secondary illnesses like diarrhea and respiratory infections. But he says that in northeastern Nigeria, children are literally starving to death.
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