Covid impact analysis Niger note Covid- June 2020

COVID-19 has deepened a food, education and healthcare crisis affecting the poorest and most vulnerable communities in four countries in West Africa. An estimated 4.8 million children under 15 in Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Chad, need help to survive and stay in school. This marks a 60 percent increase since the coronavirus pandemic swept the world.

Save the Children conducted a Household Economic Analysis in all four countries between May and July, just as COVID-19 was beginning to take hold in many parts of the world, including West Africa. Our analysis reveals that families already struggling to put food on the table were forced into difficult choices, like reducing their exposure to coronavirus by staying at home and going hungry, or going out to find work and feeding their families.