2023-09-27 17:08:33
“You will find nothing here. Look for yourself, no seeds, we have no oil or salt, nothing. We are going to die with our children. Goodwill must come to our aid.” says with sadness Faiti, head of family in a camp for displaced people, located on the outskirts of Gao, in the north of Mali.
Her husband was killed during an attack by an armed group two years ago. It is therefore she who is responsible for her three children who suffer from nutritional deficiencies because access to humanitarian aid is limited, notably due to insecurity.
Unicef calls on governments in the Sahel to “place child nutrition at the top of national priorities”. Image: Boureima Hama/AFP
Children, first victims
Indeed, children continue to pay a high price for security crisis which is getting worse in Mali. Dozens of people were killed in the month of September alone in the north and center of the country. “On September 7, 2023, an attack against a boat on the Gao-Timbuktu axis resulted in the death of at least 24 children”confirms Pierre Ngom, representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund in Mali.
Added to this are diseases like poliomyelitis. “Restrictions on access to humanitarian aid and increased internal displacement of populations are fueling a child malnutrition crisis and putting a million children under the age of five at risk, in a context of resurgence of polio and measles epidemic”, worries Pierre Ngom.
200,000 children risk dying of hunger without humanitarian aid in MaliImage: Feisal Omar/REUTERS
Eat and heal yourself despite the danger
In central Mali, fear of being attacked prevents some from leaving their homes to find food or seek medical care for their children. At the beginning of September, a boat was attacked with a rocket in the Mopti regionleaving one dead, a twelve-year-old child.
Despite the dangers, this mother risked everything to get treatment for her child who was suffering from measles.
“I left on foot carrying my son, with fear in my stomach. I had to take this risk so that my child had a chance of surviving. I already lost a child last year because of hunger and I’ve decided that measles isn’t going to take this one away from me. “
Jihadist attacks which continue also jeopardize the education of children. More than 1,500 schools are still closed across Mali, and half a million children will be out of school when classes resume in a few weeks.
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