Recently, I met a desperately sick child called Maouloud. He was suffering from severe acute malnutrition, which meant that his body was so undernourished he was at a high risk of death. In New Zealand, most of us have a doctor relatively nearby, but not so in Chad, where this little boy lives. His nearest health centre is a 25km walk away from his home.
With money short for other transport, it was just too far for his mother to bring him back after his first course of treatment for malnutrition. As a result his condition deteriorated and he sadly returned to the clinic in a worse condition than the first time. It wasn't his mum's fault. The family live in extreme poverty and finding the $1 cost of a motorbike taxi was just impossible.
I'd like to say that Maouloud is an isolated case but the harsh reality is that about a million children are at risk of starving to death in this area of west Africa, called the Sahel. In Chad the land was dry, cracked and dusty beneath my feet - a far cry from the lush green land around Dunedin where I grew up - and it wasn't hard to see why this country is on its knees when it comes to food production.
As in seven other countries in the region, such as Mali and Niger, there is extreme drought here, driven by climate change.
The second-largest lake in Africa is in Chad - it has lost 90% of its mass over the past 20 years. That's the equivalent of Lake Taupo shrinking from its 623sq km to just over 60sq km.
Crops have failed, what food there is has gone up astronomically in price and the end result is that 15 million people are in dire straits. I heard that people are so desperate they are breaking into termite mounds to get at the grain the termites have stored. These are exceptionally difficult times and many people may not live to see 2013.
Unicef is on the ground delivering an emergency response for children, like Maouloud. There is emergency food we can give malnourished children which costs as little as $NZ15 a week. Kiwis have helped provide a great deal of it by responding generously to our calls for help.
The number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition has doubled in Chad alone over the past three months and much more of these supplies are urgently needed.
But funds are also needed for the long term.
The truth remains that putting a Band Aid on the situation is not sustainable. It is complex but one big factor has to be the continuing impact of environmental change, which most greatly affects the world's poorest people. For example, it's estimated that 25 million more children could be suffering from malnutrition in 2050, simply because of climate change.
Issues of food security are, therefore, likely to be high on the agenda for governments, including a New Zealand delegation, at the upcoming Rio+20 conference. Perhaps as many as 50,000 people will be coming together to look at how the world is doing on sustainable development (in short, development which meets the needs of the present without compromising future generations) and how we can move towards a more environmentally sound future.
Part of this discussion will no doubt include reducing climate change by looking at how we can limit greenhouse gases, but adaptability is also key.
Communities in countries like Chad can't wait and that's why Unicef and other aid agencies are already strengthening the capacity of people against the impact of future food shortages.
One of the most urgent solutions for the many malnourished children I met is to have health clinics within a 10km radius of their homes.
Unicef is doubling the number of clinics in Chad to 460 by the end of this month. We are also installing clean water sources and providing sanitation combined with education on the importance of hygiene.
Communities are going to have to adapt to survive in countries like Chad. People there are just like New Zealanders - they have pride and would rather stand on their own two feet. But, sadly, there is a long way to go and the situation is projected to get worse over the next few months.
It pains me to think that Maouloud might not survive this critical time, but I can take hope from the fact that, no matter what the future brings, Unicef won't abandon these children now, or in the long term.
• Dennis McKinlay is executive director at Unicef NZ.
