As conflict stalks Burkina Faso borderlands, hunger spreads

Women receive porridge from the Red Cross during a porridge preparation learning program, as part of efforts to fight malnutrition at the Medical Center's maternity ward in Dori, Burkina Faso, November 24, 2021. Picture taken November 24, 2021. REUTERS/Anne Mimault

DORI, Burkina Faso (Reuters) - Suspended from scales in a bucket, nine-month-old Sakinatou Amadou gripped the sides of her makeshift container as a nurse at a small clinic in northern Burkina Faso checked on her recovery from malnutrition.

Sakinatou's mother is dead and she is being raised in Dori, a trading hub near the Niger border, by her grandmother, whose family of 14 have struggled to support themselves since they fled their village in 2019.