UNICEF UK is launching a major new
campaign this week to draw attention to the worsening situation for children in
West Africa
David Bull, UNICEF UK's
Executive Director, has published an emotional letter in several national
newspapers, including the Times, Telegraph, Independent,
and Guardian.
“It's a scandal," he writes.
"We have seen some of the most amazing technological advances in recent
decades, and yet we haven’t stopped young children starving,
UNICEF estimates that right now at
least a million children are at risk of severe
malnutrition, and could die within months.
"We think this is a scandal and
we should bring it to your attention," Bull said. "If you too think
this is an outrage, please help us do something about it."
In the last week, our appeal for
West Africa has reached more than 40.4 million people worldwide via the Twitter
hashtag #sahelNOW, including tweets from Selena Gomez and Eddie Izzard.
Hashjacking Twitter:
This week's newspaper letter will be
accompanied by a "hashjacking" on Twitter where UNICEF
UK and our supporters will try to take over trending hashtags with the
latest information about the West Africa crisis.
UNICEF is the largest provider of therapeutic food for severely malnourished children in the region and has already treated tens of thousands of children since January.
However, so far the crisis remains
dangerously underreported in the media, and UNICEF has received less than half
of the £77 million it needs to help prevent the deaths of over one million
children in the area.
