UNICEF says the international community needs to act now to avert a growing crisis in the Sahel region of Africa as it's been too slow to help in the past.
The aid agency says successive droughts combined with increasing insecurity in the area is pushing families to breaking point.
The UN estimates that 10 million people are at risk of hunger in countries that include Chad, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Burkina Faso.
UNICEF's New Zealand head Dennis McKinlay says one million children are suffering from acute malnutrition and they will die if they're not fed soon.
