Dakar: In the Sahel region of Africa, where food prices are high, there are conflicts, nearly a million young children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year, UNICEF warned on Friday.

The UN children's agency stated in a statement that "an estimated 970,000 children under 5 from West Africa's three central Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger) will face severe wasting this year."

These three landlocked, impoverished nations are at war with jihadist insurgencies. With 430,000 children estimated to be affected, Niger is expected to bear the heaviest burden; however, thanks to government initiatives, this number is expected to drop by 14% from 2022 levels.

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 In Mali, 367,000 children are anticipated to experience severe wasting, an increase of more than 18% from the previous year. According to a statement from Marie-Pierre Poirier, regional director for UNICEF in West and Central Africa, "growing insecurity and conflict mean that vulnerability is increasing in the region, and it is getting harder to help communities in isolated areas."

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The Sahel region, which includes parts of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, and Togo, is expected to see an increase in child wasting in 2023, according to data from the UN agency.

Governments were urged to prioritise child nutrition as a top priority and increase national spending on the early prevention, identification, and treatment of child malnutrition.

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