Children under five at risk of malnutrition, death from looming Sahel famine, UNICEF warns

The Guardian examines child malnutrition in Chad, where "[r]ising therapeutic feeding center admissions highlight the growing urgency of the situation in one of Sahel's driest, most remote areas." Chad's Kanem region "is one of the worst-hit regions in the current food crisis, which UNICEF estimates is affecting approximately 15 million people in the Sahel," the news service writes. "'The needs are many and varied in Chad, as we are facing multiple crises,' said Anthony Lake, executive director of UNICEF, during a visit to Mao," according to the Guardian. The news service writes, "Chad has a cereal deficit of about 400,000 tons this year, and stocks of only about 40,000 tons" (Hicks, 4/10). "The United Nations has warned that at least one million children under the age of five across Africa's Sahel region are at risk of dying from severe famine and malnutrition due to drought," Press TV reports, adding, "UNICEF said it needs $120 million to tackle the looming crisis" (4/10).