nearby is one of timbuktu's few medical centers. mother and baby visiting hours are always over crowded with infants suffering from disease and minority and. the crisis in northern mali and years of war and terror a taking their toll. unicef has supported health care centers and money for years despite the difficult situation and. the beginning of the crisis health centers like this one were attacked and had to shut down then we came back and since then we've seen increasing numbers of children here a lot of mothers are frightened to come here because the streets are still being jewish that's also why there isn't enough to eat and that affects their children's health and nutritional condition. unicef says ten percent of children here are acutely undernourished around ninety percent of timbuktu's residents live in poverty the lack of security has crippled the economy and infrastructure in the sahara region health care a particular is rare to find as a result less than half of mali's children have been adequately vaccinated. for them

the carman timbuktu is deceptive and. mainly down to the massive presence of u.n. peacekeepers rebels and the hottest still operating in northern mali at the edge of the sahara desert terror and violence have left their mark on the city. there are too few hospitals a many children no longer attending school. mariam fatuma touré ambassadors for unicef the united nations children's fund. their 15 years old and they're still in school. until about 2 years old town they regularly visit families to persuade them to send their kids back to school. and. we go from door to door to make parents aware of how important education is and we've already persuaded a few to send their children to school. but there are parents who say that education is not important for children. and then some of them say it's more important to go to qur'anic school. not only parents objections like these are keeping children out of school fear is also a factor more than $800.00 schools that shut down after the political crisis in 2012 remain closed more than 80 in and around timbuktu alone the city

and i'm david my family left timbuktu in 2012. we lived in a refugee camp and more autonomy and.life was very hard there we didn't have a proper house just a hut. it was very windy and very hot in the camp it was hard. there are up to $100.00 children in each class. mariam's teacher too late back i says the returning refugees need extra special attention. on a problem and to get us through this is ok we have to work with someone to levels on the one level we have to support them psychologically because so many of them are traumatised on the other we have. give them extra tutoring so they can catch up with the other peoples. many of the refugee children have missed an awful lot of school so even if. there's not just a shortage of schools in timbuktu but also with teaching staff teachers have to contend with threats from the islamists who want to stop non-religious education. few children herrick getting the chance to finish their schooling. this year i'm really happy there's a proper school here with deaths teachers and cork's. i'm so glad i have the chance to learn here and that

the carman timbuktu is deceptive and it's mainly down to the massive presence of un peacekeepers rebels and the hardest still operating in northern mali at the edge of the sahara desert terror and violence have left their mark on a city. there are too few hospitals a many children no longer attending school. mariam fatuma tour around passages for unicef the united nations children's fund. their 15 years old and the still in school. until. they regularly visit families to persuade them to send their kids back to school. we go from door to door to make parents aware of how important education is we've already persuaded a few to send their children to school. but there are parents who say that education is not important for children. and then some of them say it's more important to go to qur'anic school. not only parents objections like these keeping children out of school fear is also a factor more than $800.00 schools that shut down after the political crisis in 2012 remain closed more than 80 in and around timbuktu alone the city mom school is open and hopelessly overcrowded mariam mean