Funding shortfalls jeopardise vital aid for Niger

Funding shortfalls and logistical bottlenecks are still delaying the arrival of sufficient aid to prevent catastrophic levels of malnutrition caused by drought in Niger, aid agencies have said, despite calling for the international community to step up their response to the crisis back in June (BMJ 2010;340:c3372, doi:10.1136/bmj.c3372).

After a visit to Niger last month, the United Nations World Food Programme’s executive director, Josette Sheeran, described “an unfolding catastrophe for millions of people,” warning that the programme was “struggling against time to scale up quickly enough to reach the escalating number of hungry.”

She said the programme would supply 7.9 million …