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UN:
THOUSANDS OF SOMALI CHILDREN AT RISK OF DYING FROM MALNUTRITION, UNICEF
WARNS:
13/09/2007 (MaximsNews.com, U.N.) |
UNITED NATIONS - / www.MaximsNews.com@
U.N./
- 13 September 2007 –Some
13,500 children in central and southern Somalia are severely malnourished and at
risk of dying, while nearly 70,000 others suffer from malnutrition, according to
a new survey by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners in the
strife-torn and flood- and drought-hit Horn of Africa country.
“These
children urgently require attention to ensure that they survive,” UNICEF
country representative Christian Balslev-Olesen said. “UNICEF is very
concerned that their numbers might increase with continued civil strife, limited
humanitarian access to these areas, food insecurity and a depressed economy.”
Malnutrition
is not new to Somalia, a country which has been riven by factional fighting and
has had no functioning central government since Muhammad Siad Barre’s regime
was toppled in 1991.
But such
critical levels in a region known as the country’s breadbasket are alarming
and point to a deteriorating humanitarian situation. In fact, an earlier
comprehensive nutrition survey conducted in May in the Middle and Lower Shabelle
region bordering Mogadishu, the capital, had already indicated that 17 per cent
of children under five years suffer from global acute malnutrition, above the UN
World Health Organization (WHO) emergency threshold levels of 15 per cent.
“Children
and families in this region have recently gone from one shock to another, and
with the next flood season around the corner, it is important that
peace-building efforts are intensified to ensure that UNICEF and its partners
can address the underlying causes of these problems as well as the immediate
needs,” Mr. Balslev-Olesen said.
UNICEF
currently supports 60 selective feeding programmes in Central and Southern
Somalia, treating about 15,000 malnourished children each month. But in order to
scale up its activities and reach the thousands of additional children at risk,
security issues must be tackled.
“We
appeal to all parties involved to establish peace so that we can work with
communities to meet the needs of these children,” Mr. Balslev-Olesen said.
Overall,
the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Somalia has increased
from 1 million to 1.5 million since January 2007. Most of those in need are
children and women.
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
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