COVID-19 has deepened a food, education and healthcare crisis affecting the poorest and most vulnerable communities in four countries in West Africa. 

That’s according to Save the Children.

It says an estimated 4.8 million children under 15 in Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Chad, need help to survive and stay in school. 

The figure, it says, marks a 60 percent increase since the coronavirus pandemic swept the world.

Save the Children conducted a Household Economic Analysis in all four countries between May and July, just as COVID-19 was beginning to take hold in many parts of the world, including West Africa. 

Veronic Njie reports.