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Niger is in the midst of a food crisis – and a cash-short Unicef is now struggling to help – but without an environmental disaster or other striking event to jolt the world’s attention, the country is too often overlooked, writes MARK COUGHLAN

RACHIDA ABDOULAYE sits cross-legged beneath the dense leaves of an acacia tree. Her 11-month-old daughter, Chafana, lies listlessly in her arm. Like the 400 or so other mothers outside this treatment centre in southern Niger, they’re waiting to see a doctor. Rachida says Chafana has been vomiting and has diarrhoea. The child’s prominent ribcage lifts and lowers slowly. It appears almost too heavy for her labouring lungs. Her foot hangs over her mother’s wrist, the toenails painted a girlie green. She is acutely malnourished.