UNICEF Warns More Children Than Ever To Be Affected By Hunger In Sahel; PM Cameron Expected To Announce Nutrition Initiatives At Summit

“The number of malnourished children is set to hit a new high of 1.5 million in the Sahel next week as cholera and locusts emerge as new threats, UNICEF warned on Tuesday,” Agence France-Presse reports (8/7). According to VOA News, “International aid agencies report the situation is particularly critical in Niger where an estimated 400,000 children are expected to require life-saving treatment for severe, acute malnutrition this year.” UNICEF, other U.N. agencies, and international aid organizations “are hampered by a lack of funds,” the news service notes (Schlein, 8/7).

In related news, the Independent reports that “[c]harities are urging [British Prime Minister] David Cameron to announce the ‘biggest ever push on hunger’ at his global nutrition event, to be held next week to coincide with the closing day of the Olympics.” According to the newspaper, “[t]he Prime Minister told [the Independent on Sunday] that he and Brazil’s Vice President, Michel Temer, who is co-hosting next week’s event, want to ‘use the summit to find new ways of tackling malnutrition — fostering innovation in biotechnology, encouraging stronger co-operation between governments and ensuring better accountability by Governments who receive aid.'” Cameron “added that he hopes to ‘agree [on] a package of measures’ to ‘transform the lives of millions of children’ before the Rio Olympics,” the newspaper reports (Morrison, 8/5).

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