‘Children just do not have to die’

Seventeen-month-old Nana Moussa was on the verge of death, in a remote rural village in south-central Niger, far from medical facilities. Her frail body, which had shrunk to a mere 4.3 kilograms, could no longer prop itself up. Alarmed, Nana’s parents walked with her all night to reach a village with public transport, and then rode for six more hours in an overcrowded van to Maradi, a regional capital. Like many other poor parents in Niger struggling to provide adequate nutrition for their children, they finally reached the Centre de récupération nutritionnelle intensive, a therapeutic feeding centre operated by the non-governmental Médecins sans frontières and supported by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).