Malnutrition // Current

Niger government suspends Doctors Without Borders leaving children malnourished

This is unconscienable.

JanforGore
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Zimbabwe children eating toxic roots, rats, says aid agency

Children in Zimbabwe are eating rats and inedible roots riddled with toxic parasites to stave off hunger because of chronic food... more

goldenways
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Double Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup

Farmers receive subsidies to grow corn - much of this corn is sold to cola and other junk-food companies at a reduced rate. These... more

patsarts
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Prices and Family Planning Part of Africa's Hunger Problem

Health workers in the Central African Republic are blaming poor family planning as well high prices for worsening malnutrition in... more

usnico
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Nepal: ensuring a worm-free childhood

Most children in developing countries are infected with common intestinal worms. The parasites can cause malnutrition and sap a... more

goldenways
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say no to the Mothers act!!!!!!

This act is supported by Obama

regjoeschmo
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Sudanese Government selling donated food while Darfur starves.

Even as it receives a billion pounds of free food from international donors, Sudan is growing and selling vast quantities of its... more

Ayahuasca2012
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Haiti food aid lags, hunger deepens

As nation starves, aid is stuck in port or inside warehouses

DESCHAPELLES, Haiti - Every inch of Rivilade Filsame's body hurt, from his swollen, empty stomach to his dried-out, wrinkled skin. The 18-month-old had been crying for so long in the hospital malnutrition ward that his mother no longer tried to console him.

After soaring food prices led to deadly riots in April, the U.S. and the U.N. promised millions of dollars in aid to poor families like Rivilade's, as well as help for farmers to break Haiti's dependence on imported food.

But three months later, The Associated Press has learned that only a fraction of a key U.S. food pledge — less than 2 percent as of early July — has been distributed.

Even those who oversee the food aid programs say they are stopgap measures while programs to create jobs and help Haitian farmers to increase production are more critical to ending the country's chronic hunger once and for all.

Emergency aid stuck in port
But right now, aid workers say, the poorest families need immediate help, and little of the emergency food promised has reached them. Most of what has reached Haiti is stuck in port. Nearly all the rest is still inside warehouses — victim of high fuel prices, bad roads and a weak national government.

Barely any food at all has gone to the desperate countryside, where more than half of Haiti's 8.7 million people live.
Even in the Artibonite Valley, Haiti's most fertile region, child malnutrition is rampant. Farmers — reeling from last year's floods and a dry spring, and lacking equipment that was promised to increase their yields — are eating the very seeds they should be planting to avoid future hunger.

One in three children is malnourished in the most rural areas of the Artibonite Valley, according to the Hospital Albert Schweitzer in Deschapelles, where Rivilade was treated in June. Doctors there admitted 113 children to the malnutrition ward from May through June, almost two and a half times more than last year. In April and May alone, there were 361 children under five who were severely malnourished and more than 2,500 others moderately so.

"Kids who would have been moderately malnourished last year are severely malnourished this year," said hospital official Adeline Azrack. "Families that were once just vulnerable are now in crisis."

Food riots could return
With families eating through their meager food savings and with the hurricane season in full swing, the food riots could be returning. On Thursday, U.N. police said, a small group of demonstrators burned tires and threw rocks at police and U.N. peacekeepers in Les Cayes, where the April riots began.

***Story continues,click link to read***As nation starves, aid is stuck in port or inside warehouses DESCHAPELLES, Haiti - Every inch of Rivilade Filsame's body... more

goldenways
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3 responses

4 months ago

Ruthless drought in West Timor puts children in crisis

REMOTE WEST TIMOR (CNN) -- Maria's labored breath echoes within the walls of her family's mud hut. Her tiny, bony hands... more

goldenways
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8 responses

4 months ago

UN warns 5m Zimbabweans will face hunger by next year

The United Nations warned yesterday that more than 5 million Zimbabweans are facing hunger as the country staggers towards next... more

merasyad
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0 responses

5 months ago

Ethiopia appeals for urgent aid

Ethiopia has launched an urgent appeal to international donors for more than $300m (£154m) of emergency aid. A total of... more

Allsunday
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0 responses

5 months ago

'Forget climate change, we should spend on nutrition'

Malnutrition should be the world’s major priority for aid and development, a panel of eight leading economists, including... more

jubal
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64 responses

5 months ago

UN plan to increase food supplies

Global food production must be doubled by 2030 and farmers in poor countries better supported, a UN summit on the current food... more

Britny
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0 responses

6 months ago

Doctors Without Borders: 'Plumpynut' new food advance to fight malnutrition

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is calling for increased and expanded use of nutrient dense ready-to-use food (RUF) to reduce the five million annual deaths worldwide related to malnutrition in children under five years of age. Current food aid, which focuses on fighting hunger—not on treating malnutrition—is not doing enough to address the needs of young children most at risk.

What is therapeutic ready-to-use food?

Commercialized therapeutic RUF takes the form of a peanut/milk-based paste with all nutrients essential to treat severe acute malnutrition. It comes in individually wrapped airtight foil packets, that are resistant to bacterial infection and easy to distribute. The product has a long shelf life, making it easy to store, transport and to use in hot climates as an efficient way to provide milk to children under three.

"It's not only about how much food children get, it's what's in the food that counts," said Dr. Christophe Fournier, president of MSF's International Council. "Without the right amounts of vitamins and essential nutrients in their diet, young kids become vulnerable to disease that they would normally be able to fight off easily. Calls for increased food aid ignore the special needs of young children who are at the greatest risk of dying."

RUFs, which come in individually wrapped rations, contain all the necessary nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that a young child needs. This dense therapeutic food, which has milk powder, sugars, and vegetable fats, can be produced and stored locally and transported easily, and requires no refrigeration, making it ideal for use in hot climates. It allows a child to recover from being malnourished and catch up on lost growth. Being easy-to-use, mothers—not doctors and nurses—are the main caregivers, meaning far more children at risk can be reached.

"In Somalia we are giving acutely malnourished kids packets of ready-to-use food and we see them gain weight and begin thriving within a couple of weeks," said Dr Gustavo Fernandez, MSF head of mission in Somalia. "RUFs are practical to use in places like Somalia where security is very bad. General food distribution is also needed, but it is not going to be very effective to treat kids under three years old."

Severe acute malnutrition in early childhood is common in large areas of the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and South Asia -- the world's "malnutrition hotspots." The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 20 million young children suffering from severe acute malnutrition at any given moment and MSF estimates that only three percent of them will receive RUF in 2007.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is calling for increased and expanded use of nutrient... more