Two-year-old Nigerian boy accused of being a witch rescued by aid workers

'Thousands of children are being accused of being witches and we've both seen torture of children, dead children and frightened children'

Anja Ringgren Loven gives water to Hope, 2, after finding the emaciated boy wandering the streets

(Anja Ringgren Lovén/Facebook)

Harrowing pictures show how a starving two-year-old Nigerian boy was rescued after being discovered naked and wandering the streets because his family thought he was a witch.

The boy, who has been named Hope, was found emaciated and riddled with worms after being forced to live off scraps of food thrown to him by passersby for eight months.

He was rescued by Anja Ringgren Loven, a Danish woman living in Africa who bent down and began feeding the boy and giving him water.

She then wrapped the boy in a blanket and took him to the nearest hospital.

Anja Ringgren Loven carries Hope to the hospital

(Anja Ringgren Lovén/Facebook)

(Anja Ringgren Lovén/Facebook)

Ms Loven is the founder of African Children's Aid Education and Development Foundation, which she created to help children which have been labelled as witches and therefore neglected and even killed by members of their community.

She runs a children's centre where the children she saves receive medical care, food and schooling.

"Thousands of children are being accused of being witches and we've both seen torture of children, dead children and frightened children," she wrote in Danish on Facebook, making an appeal for donations to help pay the young boy's medical fees.

(Anja Ringgren Lovén/Facebook)

Hope was given medication to remove the worms from his belly and daily blood transfusions to give him more red blood cells, Ms Loven wrote.

"Hope's condition is stable now. He's taking food for himself and he responds to the medicine he gets."

(Anja Ringgren Lovén/Facebook)

(Anja Ringgren Lovén/Facebook)

She said the "strong little boy" even plays with her own son.

Two days after asking for help with Hope's medical fees, she received $1 million in donations from around the world.

"With all the money, we can, besides giving Hope the very best treatment, now also build a doctor clinic on the new land and save many more children out of torture!" she wrote.