GENEROUS Evening News readers have helped to raise nearly £3,000 for the children's charity Unicef.

Many people responded to our week-long appeal for vital funds to help some of the six million children across Southern Africa who are facing some of the worst food shortages in years.

During that week the charity urged people play a part in preventing a disaster and the donations came flooding in. A total of £2,945 was raised and every penny of that will go towards their emergency response to the crisis.

In total, 1.28 million people across Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zambia are threatened with famine.

Unicef had already responded to the situation, providing supplementary feeding to most vulnerable mothers and children, carrying out measles campaigns, drilling boreholes, providing jerry cans and working to help children orphaned by HIV/Aids.

But when the situation deteriorated they made an urgent appeal for more funds.

As a result, they have raised enough money to step up their work in all six countries.

In Zimbabwe, the charity's feeding programme has been expanded to reach more than 130,000 malnourished children under the age of five and they are also working to control the threat of further outbreaks of life-threatening diseases such as cholera.

More than 180,000 tons of fortified food has already been sent to Malawi, where an estimated 3.2 million people are affected by the food shortages.

They also plan to increase their school feeding programme, ensuring that children receive at least one meal a day at school.

And they are hoping to develop the support they provide for children infected with HIV and those orphaned by the HIV/Aids epidemic.

"Your support for this appeal shows your commitment to making the world a better place for the next generation and helping the world's children," said Unicef's executive director, David Bull.