By Mahamat Ramadane
N’DJAMENA (Reuters) – Severe drought followed by the worst floods in 30 years have led to rocketing food prices and left a record 2.1 million people in Chad acutely hungry, according to United Nations agencies.
As a result of the climate disaster, 10% of all children under five are affected by severe malnutrition, and one in three will suffer from stunted growth, said the United Nations children’s fund.
On a bed at the Notre Dame des Apotres Hospital in the capital N’Djamena, Fatimé Mahamat Idriss feeds her gaunt toddler through a feeding tube.
When the harvest failed, her husband sought work in a gold mine in the north, leaving no food for their three children.
Chad’s total population is 16.4 million, according to the World Bank.
(Reporting by Mahamat Ramadane; Writing by Hereward Holland, editing by Ed Osmond)
