Niger has been struck by a series of food crises in recent years (in 2004/05, 2008/10 and 2011/12). The 2011/12 food crisis, like the previous ones, not only led to a dramatic slump in agricultural and pastoral production, but also a loss of assets, livestock and other forms of saving and a high level of household indebtedness. This has had a serious impact on the population’s nutritional and health status, especially among children aged under five. The general malnutrition and severe acute malnutrition rates have reached very high levels in both the rural and the urban populations. In July 2012, 14.8 percent of the children in the country were suffering from global acute malnutrition (GAM). Malnutrition rate is higher than the WHO’s 15 percent emergency threshold in 4 regions of the country (out of 7).