THE figures are almost too large to comprehend.
In Niger 2.5 million people are facing famine, 150,000 children are expected to die from malnutrition by the end of the year and the country's many starving need at least 23,000 tons of food just for the hope of survival.
While 20 years ago a similar crisis in Ethiopia prompted Live Aid, even in Third World terms Niger has always been Africa's poor relation, and the vocal appeals for aid from the United Nations earlier this year were met with silence until the inevitable graphic images of starving children shocked the international community into response.
It's not the first and unlikely to be the last time Niger has been left in the shadow of what have been seen as more deserving causes, and its people have almost become used to rebuilding their lives from scratch.
"They have a very rich culture and an ancient simple way of life," says Jenny Hall, originally from Keighley, who spent two years working on a community project in the Azawak area of Niger among the Tuareg nomads.
"They seem to be able to weather the droughts that hit the region three times every 10 years and pick themselves up, as 'it is the will of God'.
"Despite losing nearly everything in the mid-1980s, when the world focused on Ethiopia, these proud and once rich 'blue men of the desert' have rebuilt their life among the shifting sands of the southern edges of the Sahara."
But pride alone may not be enough to withstand this famine, the result of poor rainfall and the swarms of locusts which invaded West Africa last autumn decimating the millet crops.
"Last year the aid organisation Medicins Sans Frontieres had already treated 30,000 severely malnourished children under the age of five globally," says Jenny who is hoping to return to the region with her husband Ian.
"By April this year they were predicting that they would need to treat 20,000 children this year in Niger alone.
"But the truth is the UN were calling this a silent crisis back in April when they appealed for international aid, and only about a fifth of what they thought was needed was pledged. While I am pleased Britain has been the biggest donor, the crisis is deepening."
Sitting between Chad to the East and Mali to the West, Niger may have finally managed to grab the attention of the international press, but with few official reports, the figures which are being touted may be a vast underestimation of the problem.
If the lack of rain and the locust swarm were the catalysts for the present crisis, it was, ironically, the rain they had so desperately needed which sealed the people of Niger's fate, causing flash floods.
"Communication is difficult, but we are in touch with friends out there when we can," says Jenny. "They say that many people have lost the majority of their animals and, in cultures where the animals' milk and millet is the staple diet, and as the market price of animals is your livelihood, this season is a challenge just to survive.
"If all that wasn't enough, sudden rainfall two weeks ago caused flash floods in one of the valleys where our project had been working.
"The animals have stripped every last blade of grass out of the ground and the earth was like concrete, so when the rain came it washed away the few stick and mud huts on the sides of the valley, and in the resulting debris there was a pile of animal carcasses.
"Even if this year they have regular rain for a month, many of the small farmers, and some of the semi-settled nomads who plant some crops, have already eaten any seed grain they had stored to plant this year."
If the numbers expected to be hit by the famine – almost a quarter of the population and rising – are impossibly large, their annual income, even in good years is impossibly small.
With the average adult earning just £50 a year, Niger is already the second poorest country in the world.
However, even abject poverty can't stand in the way of supply and demand, with the cost of a 25-kilo sack of millet expected to triple this year.
"There are unconfirmed rumours going around that there is no more stock in Niger," says Jenny. "If this is the case, it is difficult to see how people will survive without food aid. Animals are a Tuareg's bank balance, and the famine is also making them almost worthless. No-one wants to buy animals that are starving in a time when there is no pasture, so the nomads have no means of getting hold of cash to buy further food supplies."
Whatever the international community does now for Niger, its immediate future remains bleak.
With natural disasters often combining with political instability, economic uncertainty and social unrest, there is no easy solution to the problems faced by the Third World, but Jenny, who helped establish wells for the partially-settled nomads, believes it is not yet a lost cause.
"The world is now focusing on giving Africa 'a hand up not a hand out', so there is a good chance that in years to come Niger can better prepare for and withstand its regular droughts, and the cancellation of their international debt will also make a huge difference," she says. But today the need is very real and immediate.
"While throwing money at a problem is not always the best way of dealing with situations, local projects with their feet on the ground can channel money to the most necessary problems without lengthy delays."

Yorkshire charity JOY has started to collect money to send direct to one such project to help the Tuareg. To donate, call
01274 531999.