Across West Africa, crops have failed and food prices are rising. Without a reliable food source, children are simply not getting enough food to eat.
More than a million children could face life-threatening malnutrition if we don't take immediate action.
Chad is just one of the countries affected. This photo story explains why child hunger is happening there, what we're doing to stop it escalating, and how you can help us.
A severely malnourished boy lies near his mother at a UNICEF-supported feeding centre in Mao, Chad. He's in one of the regions worst affected by the food shortage, where more than 15 per cent of children under 5 are ill from hunger.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-2173/Patricia Esteve
These underdeveloped tomatoes show just how hard it's become to grow food in Chad. Droughts, plagues of insects and rising food prices mean that families simply don't have a reliable source of food.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-2186/Patricia Esteve
These children are playing outside a UNICEF-supported kindergarten in N’Djamena, Chad's capital. One in five children in West Africa dies before their fifth birthday because they don't have enough to eat. Donate today and help us save young lives.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-2147/Patricia Esteve
Preventing hunger-related illness before it happens is much cheaper than treating it. Here, a UNICEF-supported health worker is looking for early signs of malnutrition by measuring a child’s height.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-2162/Patricia Esteve
Children at this UNICEF-supported clinic are being screened for malnutrition. To prevent a wide-scale emergency, we're preparing Chad and other countries in the region by providing them with life-saving supplies before it's too late.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-2172/Patricia Esteve
This week, our amazing Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow met staff at a UNICEF supply warehouse in Mao, Chad. Special life-saving foods like the peanut paste that she's holding are the best way to treat severe acute malnutrition among children under five.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2012-0047/Olivier Asselin
These UNICEF workers are preparing boxes of life-saving food to distribute to Chad's worst affected areas. We need £77 million to prevent and treat child hunger across West Africa. Donate today and help us save young lives.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-2207/Patricia Esteve
