With a new food crisis looming in West Africa, Stephen Pattison of UNICEF UK's media team is in Niger to witness UNICEF's vital work to prevent child malnutrition.
My second day in Niger starts early. We want to get out to a local health centre to see mothers bringing their children for malnutrition check ups and new emergency food supplies. This system of free, local health centres is crucial to identify and treat severely malnourished children and prevent them from needing hospital care.
Mums give their children emergency food at the health centre © UNICEF/Niger/Stephen Pattison
We set off with our security escort leading the way. They are supposed to know the region but we get lost and there is a lot of arm waving and muttering in French in our car. UNICEF's cars are great but the roads aren't. I feel like a Thunderbirds puppet - my head wobbling everywhere.
We arrive at the health centre and meet a group of women waiting with their children for a check up. They are really friendly and happy to see us. All of the children have severe malnutrition, which is life threatening unless treated.
Mums with children waiting for a nutrition check up © UNICEF/Niger/Stephen Pattison
Each child is weighed, measured and checked for disease and then their appetite is tested. If they can't eat, then they have to go to hospital. Fortunately, they all can and I watch the wonderful sight of children being fed the high-energy, life-saving peanut paste and then see the mothers get supplies to take home.
UNICEF provides all of the supplies necessary to treat children like this across Niger. We expect to treat over 330,000 children this year. It is a truly impressive effort to see how children are being kept healthy and alive.
We follow one woman, Samira, back to her village to talk about the food situation. During this walk, I meet my favourite person of the day - Nariama.
The amazing Nariama from UNICEF Niger © UNICEF/Niger/Stephen Pattison
She is a local UNICEF worker who during the rest of the day will translate for us, manage crowds of excited children and adults, and most importantly talk to mothers and fathers about how changes in their daily lives can stop their children becoming malnourished. These changes are part of a programme that joins local health services with communities. All of this is supported by UNICEF.
In a different village, in the afternoon, Nariama leads a session about the importance of hand washing and then talks about other important issues with a crowd of women and children.
One of the biggest differences has been the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding. Women would traditionally also give water to their babies, which can give children diarrhea if the water is dirty. Mothers proudly show us how healthy their children are since they started exclusive breastfeeding.
The amazing thing is that there is no child malnutrition in this village. Everyone says it is because of the community health programme. I talk to a number of women about their fears about the food crisis and they all think it will be worse than before. So far the children in this village are healthy but we must help prepare them for the coming months.
Amazing people like Nariama can help children become healthier and survive even the toughest times. Everyone I have talked to - doctors, mothers, nutrition experts and community workers - think the situation this year in Niger will be especially severe. We have to help them prepare for the future so a crisis doesn't become a disaster.
Stephen Pattison is Senior Media Officer at UNICEF UK
Find out more