The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Friday issued a warning that severe acute malnutrition will affect over one million children in three central Sahel nations this year as a result of increased food costs, armed conflict, and climate change.

The UNICEF urged the governments of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso to "place child nutrition at the top of national priorities" and "increase national investments for the prevention, early detection and treatment of malnutrition."

According to the U.N. organization, "about 970,000 children" are at risk of severe acute malnutrition in three nations, with Niger expected to bear the biggest burden (430,000 children) in central Sahel.

While "in Mali, severe acute malnutrition is expected to increase by 18.4% to 367,000 girls and boys, up from 309,000 last year," according to UNICEF, this amount represents "60,000" fewer children than in 2022.

According to the report, admissions for severe acute malnutrition rose by 31% last year in nine Sahelian nations – Burkina Faso, northern Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, northern Nigeria, and Senegal – compared to 2021.

As per Marie-Pierre Poirier, regional director for UNICEF in West and Central Africa, "increased insecurity and conflict mean that vulnerability is increasing in the region, and 10 million children in the central Sahel are in dire need of humanitarian assistance."