Charity says 70,000 African children facing starvation

The Charity Save the Children is warning that nearly 70,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa are at risk of dying from extreme hunger before the end of the year.

It says that the Covid-19 lockdown measures have meant families are facing a serious decline in their livelihoods, and nutritious food is becoming increasingly hard to find, or expensive.

The charity says it is treating an increasing number of children suffering from malnutrition at its clinics in east and southern Africa.

Before the pandemic, communities most at risk were already facing food insecurity because of floods, displacements and swarms of locusts in East Africa.