Searching for happy endings in Mauritania
Mauritania—one of the nine Sahel countries that are grappling with a life-threatening nutrition crisis—is facing a double emergency. In addition to the food crisis, the country must handle an influx of refugees from neighboring, conflict-torn Mali. All told, some 700,000 people in Mauritania are struggling to get enough to eat. U.S. Fund for UNICEF's Managing Director of Communications, Mia Brandt, recently traveled to Mauritania and witnessed firsthand the challenges facing families.
Mauritania—one of the nine Sahel countries that are grappling with a life-threatening nutrition crisis—is facing a double emergency. In addition to the food crisis, the country must handle an influx of refugees from neighboring, conflict-torn Mali. All told, some 700,000 people in Mauritania are struggling to get enough to eat.
U.S. Fund for UNICEF's Managing Director of Communications, Mia Brandt, recently traveled to Mauritania and witnessed firsthand the challenges facing families. To quote Mia—"My work with UNICEF has led me to witness and tell the stories of suffering children and their families all over the world. You’d think I was used to seeing tough things. So why does visiting the severely malnourished babies in Kaedi Hospital, Mauritania, get to me so badly?"
Read Mia's full story on the struggle of Mauritanian mothers to save their children. It's part of a Huffington post series designed to raise awareness of a crisis which threatens over one million young lives.
A UNICEF worker brings Rougui Sal a supply of fortified peanut paste for her two-year-old son, Idy. © UNICEF/Mauritania/2012/Mia Brandt
