The devastating famine in Niger and other West African countries ranks among the most tragic failures of the humanitarian response from developed nations.

Late intervention in the crisis is costing many lives, and if that simple fact doesn't compel a sense of shame, then the images surely will.

The disaster stemmed from a combination of factors, including dry weather during the normal rainy season that decimated crops and livestock, as well as a plague of locusts.

In this region, the overwhelmingly agrarian economy is a precarious one, and food shortages are never far away. People are so poor that they lack alternatives when their natural environment is disrupted. The United Nations estimates that one-third of Niger's nearly 12 million people are on the edge of starvation; hunger is chronic for about the same proportion across the continent.

The shame derives from the part that politics and global economics played. Debt-relief policies of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have impeded subsidies for many poor farmers. When conditions became acute, people starved while the attention of the world, for reasons of internal and international concerns, was directed elsewhere.

Even within Niger, officials hide disgracefully behind a screen of denial: President Mamadou Tandja blames stories about the famine on "false propaganda" by the opposition.

None of this alters the fact that the correct course is to pitch in with the effort, belated as it is and expensive as it will be. Encouragingly, the American Red Cross and other agencies have sensible plans for bringing food quickly to Niger's young children, who are most at risk.

A list of agencies, with links and phone numbers for donations, appears above. Our nation must do its part to help in this crisis.