London - International aid agency Oxfam has accused rich Western countries of "appalling" long-term neglect of West African states like Niger.
It said they were directly responsible for the current crisis there.
It also highlighted the problems in countries neighbouring Niger, where tens of thousands of people are facing starvation as relief agencies battle to bring in food.
"If Niger had received the same levels of aid as Iraq, this crisis may never have happened," said Natasha Kofoworola Quist, Oxfam's regional director for West Africa.
"Sadly, rich countries give aid on the basis of news headlines and political priorities instead of need."
The United Nations says that about 2,5-million of Niger's 12-million people are suffering food shortages, including 32 000 children with severe malnutrition who face death without the necessary food and medical treatment.
"Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso have been forgotten by the rest of the world and this neglect has led directly to the current crisis," said Kofoworola Quist.
"It is appalling that many rich governments only remember these countries when they see children there dying of hunger on their TV screens."
Last week, the UN raised fivefold to $80-million (about R5-billion) its estimate of the money needed to tackle a "deteriorating" situation with both food and sanitation as well as an "increasing" mortality toll.
Aid agencies say the relief supplies dispatched in the country last month, in the wake of plagues of locusts and drought, are inadequate.
"If international aid does not arrive quickly, something really serious could happen," said Gerome Gasneir of the Spanish branch of Action Against Hunger. - Sapa-AFP