7月18日，联合国粮食及农业组织呼吁国际社会向尼日尔250万饥饿人口提供紧急援助。粮农组织今年5月曾呼吁国际社会向尼日尔提供400万美元紧急援助，但迄今只收到65万美元。外电报道如下：The costs of saving millions of people starving in Niger are rocketing because rich nations ignored calls for early intervention¹ to avert² the ravages³ of last year's drought, relief workers said on Wednesday.

Increasingly desperate appeals from aid agencies and the government have encouraged donors⁴ to come forward with funds in the past few weeks, but only after large numbers of children began dying of diseases brought on by hunger.

"The funding needs are sky-rocketing because it's a matter of saving lives," said Gian Carlo Cirri, the U.N. World Food Program's (WFP) representative in Niger's capital Niamey.

Drought表示“旱灾；干旱季节，长期缺乏或不足”，相关的词组有：drought-enduring（耐旱的）；drought-resistant（抗旱的）；combat drought（抗旱）；partial drought（小旱）等。

据悉，尼日尔近年遭受严重干旱和蝗虫灾害侵袭，农业生产遭到毁灭性打击，全国大部分地区陷入粮荒，共有250万人口处在经常性饥饿中，其中80万儿童严重营养不良。