"The children of Mali are suffering in silence, away from the world’s attention," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore said during a visit to the country, where the 90 percent population is Muslim. "Amid increasing violence, more children are going hungry, missing out on learning and dying in the first days of life." 

More than 850,000 children under the age of five are at risk of global acute malnutrition this year, including 274,000 facing severe malnutrition and at imminent risk of death said UNICEF and added that this represents a 34 percent increase and is largely due to the worsening food security situation in parts of the country.

Severe acute malnutrition rates are highest in the conflict-affected areas in the north, exceeding 15 percent in Timbuktu, while limited donor interest has made it harder to acquire the necessary amounts of therapeutic food, critical to curing malnourished children.

Over a million children in Mali are currently out of primary school, a 30 percent increase since 2009. To date, 750 schools remain closed in the northern and central parts of the country due to insecurity, affecting over 300,000 school-aged children. An additional 1 million children are out of secondary school.

With 1 in 28 newborns dying in the first month of life, Mali is in the top 10 countries with the highest newborn mortality rates in the world. Maternal mortality is also one of the highest globally, with 1 in 27 women likely to die from pregnancy-related causes.

ILKHA