USAID/OFDA Awards Helen Keller International $1 Million for Food Crisis Relief in Niger

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New York, September 29, 2005 - Helen Keller International (HKI) was awarded $1 million by the United States Agency for International Development Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) in support of the organization’s food crisis relief efforts in Niger. The award came in response to HKI’s proposal to integrate an emergency community therapeutic care component into its existing child survival project in Diffa. HKI is the only NGO operating in this area, which is one of the most remote and vulnerable regions in the country. HKI’s goal is to reduce deaths of children under five by providing state-of-the-art care to children suffering from moderate and severe acute malnutrition.

The recent food crisis situation in Niger is acutely felt in the Diffa region. Summer locust attacks, which decimated crops that people and livestock rely on, coupled with the poor rainfall of the last growing season, tipped the always fragile conditions in this region to devastation. The government estimates that 85% of Diffa’s population is “extremely vulnerable” to famine, with more than 25% of children under two suffering from moderate and severe acute malnutrition – levels that merit urgent action through community therapeutic care.

Since August 2005, HKI has been working with the Health Directorate of Diffa and communities to establish a system of community therapeutic care. HKI plans to treat at least 80% of children with severe and moderate acute malnutrition in Diffa using a combination of three modes of care: supplementary feeding at the community level, outpatient feeding and treatment based in health centers, and stabilization centers for children require inpatient care. This system is strengthened by a communication strategy using community radios and community groups; HKI has already worked extensively with the community radio network, developing nutrition counseling messages and materials specific to the region. HKI is also integrating new guidelines on zinc supplementation to improve treatment of diarrhea in the region.

Since 1987, HKI has been working with the Government of Niger and local and international partners to build sustainable solutions that address food insecurity and malnutrition in the country. As part of its efforts to address the underlying systemic problems in Niger, HKI intends to develop household and community gardening projects in Diffa as a complement to nutrition programming.

Niger needs not only immediate but also continued assistance to develop sustained solutions to alleviate malnutrition and food insecurity. The Diffa Region will remain central to these efforts, with continued implementation of HKI’s child survival project to ensure that children who have recovered from malnutrition do not relapse.