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Niger
The most important thing you should know is that in Niger there are wonderful, friendly people. People like art and music and visiting with their friends.
Most people in Niger are farmers or herdsmen and live rurally (9/10 of people live in the country!). The farmers grow crops like, cassava cowpeas, cotton, millet, rice and sorghum. The herdsmen have goats
It is the poorest country in the world. The average income is less than $1.00 a day.
Education is quite low. 4 out of 10 men and 1 out of 10 women can read and write. 2 out of 5 men and 1 out of 5 women have attended primary school.
The average woman has 7 children. The life expectancy is 44 years
Niger has bad roads. It is hard to get places.
Doctors Without Borders - Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
There is an international organization with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland named Médecins Sans Frontières. In English, Médecins Sans Frontières is Doctors Without Borders. In Italian it is Medici Senza Frontiere. In German it is Ärzte Ohne Grenzen and so on ... because we need doctors in every language.
- Doctors Without Borders is a humanitarian organization.
- Humanitarian means caring about the well-being of humans.
Doctors Without Borders is an organization of doctors (and nurses, dieticians, lab technicians, hygienists, logisticians…) who do their work all over the world. The people working with Doctors Without Borders come from all over the world and they work all over the world. They work where urgent medical help is needed.
If there is a natural disaster, like an earthquake or a tsunami, Doctors Without Borders will quickly send workers and medical supplies to help people hurt by the disaster.
They will send doctors to help people who were hurt physically. They will send mental health experts to help people who are suffering emotionally from the disaster. And they do more…
They work with HIV/AIDS patients to provide treatment -- and help people who can’t afford it get HIV medication. And they do more…
If there is a war, Doctors Without Borders to will go to that place in the world and help the people hurt by the war. And they do more…
These are just three examples of the types of emergencies Doctors Without Borders works in around the world.
Malnutrition and Children
It is important to say that the problem of malnourished children is not only in Niger or in Africa.
According to UNICEF, at any time, over 60 million children suffer from acute malnutrition. Of those children, over 5 million children will die.
Why does malnutrition happen? Because people are
- Poor
- Lack education
- Lack access to doctors and other medical help
Wars, and things like bad weather for crops, can increase the likelihood of malnutrition happening to those who are already
- Poor
- Lack education
- Lack access to doctors and other medical help
Children that live in rural places are also more vulnerable to malnutrition than children that live in cities because they are more likely to be
- Poor
- Lack education
- Lack access to doctors and other medical help
Malnutrition is not picky. It picks on boys and girls equally.
Some things about Niger:
- Niger is a landlocked country in the east part of Africa
- The main language is French. Hausa is also spoken
- It has a population of approximately 14 million people
- Niger is one of the hottest countries in the world.
- Depending on the season the daytime temperature can be from 30 C to over 40 C (Very hot!)
- There is not much rainfall in Niger (and there has been a 1/4 drop in rainfall since the 1960's)
- Much of the North of the country is desert
- Only 1/10 of the country is good for growing crops