Jan. 13 – One child in two suffers from chronic malnutrition; and one in four dies because of it. The data is clear: life is hard in Niger, in the bottom 10 for GDP per capita, where frequent draughts trigger severe food security crises. Coopi, an NGO founded in 1965, is promoting until Jan 27 an awareness campaign to provide appropriate nutrition to 4000 children in the Tillabéry district, in the Southwest of Niger. Coopi is organizing a funding campaign via SMS at the number 45501 as a follow-up activity from its 2012 campaigns. The initiative is supported by Camila Raznovich, who lent her face for the communication campaign. The funds will finance an integrated project for sanitary interventions and psychological support activities for mothers and children. “Contrary to other diseases – says the NGO – malnutrition effects are non immediately apparent, but affect the long-term development of the child, both at a physical and cognitive level. A child that doesn’t receive the appropriate micro-nutrients in the first 1000 days of life risks physical and cognitive skill deficiencies.” Mothers and children are both high-risk groupes: during pregnancy, it is important that the mothers be properly fed, so as to not transmit any deficiencies in utero or during the breast feeding period. The vicious cycle is at the base of what Coopi is trying to tackle with the Insieme x 100.000 campaign, launched in 2011 to provide for 100.000 children in Ethiopia, Somalia, the DRC, Chad, and Niger. “This year’s results are positive and encouraging: 70% of malnurished children received appropriate care, with a success rate of 97%. To bring into the program another 4000 children would bring to completion the project in Niger. And this is possible with just €100.000.” The funds guarantee food in periods of emergency, local health personnel, and the construction of a recreational center for children that aims as developing their cognitive skills via targeted activities. The project follows the protocol for severe malnutrition developed by the Niger government and the WHO.
