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An emaciated child weeps at a centre in Niger set up to help some of the 3.6m people said to be facing starvation in the south of the country.

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Doctors are fighting to save lives at the camps, where children are said to be dying every day.

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Aid agencies say the crisis - caused by locusts and a long drought - was foreseen months ago but nothing was done.

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Now, the agencies say, tens of thousands of children are in the advanced stages of starvation. Here, a weakened child receives medical care at a makeshift camp.

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Mothers in one of the world's poorest countries are being taught life-saving hygiene practices at the camps.

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People at the treatment centres in Niger are luckier than others who still wander the desert in search of food.

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Food for sale at a market in Maradi, Niger, is too expensive for farmers whose incomes plummeted because of the drought.