MALNUTRITION: Argentina admits to malnutrition deaths among the poor indigenous people

Feb. 7, 2011
BUENOS AIRES, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Argentine officials admitted deaths due to malnutrition among the country's poor of indigenous Latin American people and promised government action to minimize the problem.
Reports of malnutrition deaths came as results of a study jointly carried out by researchers at London's Imperial College and the University of Harvard in Boston showed Argentina, Chile and Venezuela topped the list of overweight people in Latin America.
Critics of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner earlier called for more vigorous measures to pursue the government's poverty reduction programs. The government faced criticism for not doing enough to ease poverty among the country's non-European population.
Gov. Jose Manuel Urtubey of the northern province of Salta said in a television interview at least five children, mostly from indigenous communities, died of malnutrition in 2010 and officials recorded another death this year. Urtubey warned more malnutrition cases might be present in isolated indigenous communities.
"Child malnutrition is a latent dramatic situation in the province of Salta," Urtubey said, although he pointed out conditions had improved compared to three years ago when more than 30 children died of hunger or malnutrition annually, MercoPress reported.
Reports of the children's deaths were revealed by a non-government organization and passed on to the media. Fatalities included an 18-month-old toddler and a female child, 3, but their deaths were initially attributed to infections. A third case of another 18-month-old toddler, reported to have died due to "septic shock caused by malnutrition," lifted the lid on malnutrition deaths.
The deaths caused uproar in Argentina's media. The Salta and Buenos Aires media quoted the father of one of the toddlers, who said he lost his child on a day when he returned from work in the woods to find there was nothing at hand that he could feed the children.
"There are some days when we manage to have a meal and days when we don't," he told the media. "When Leandro died, on that day we had had nothing to eat."
The northern town of Salta, close to Bolivia, has a population of 1.2 million with a significant number of indigenous communities that are exposed to malnutrition, disease and lack of community care.
"We have control over 100.000 children in those communities but the latest situation indicates that our efforts are insufficient and there must be more vulnerable population which has no access to aid or support mechanisms," Urtubey said in the interview.
The situation becomes worse in summer months when schools close and children are deprived of a hot meal provided by the schools each day. Critics said the school kitchens were underfunded and lacked clean water, as a result of which children frequently

 http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2011/02/07/Argentina-admits-to-malnutrition-deaths-among-the-poor/UPI-66841297117156/#ixzz1EcEtEQ00

MALNUTRITION: Argentine aborigine children die of malnutrition and poor sanitary conditions

February 6th 2011
An Argentine incumbent governor from the northern province of Salta admitted in a television interview that at least five children died of malnutrition last year and so far this year another case has been registered. Cases involve mostly the indigenous population.


 Salta province governor Jose Manuel Urtubey

“Child malnutrition is a latent dramatic situation in the province of Salta” said Governor Jose Manuel Urtubey, although he explained conditions had improved compared to three years ago when “over thirty children died of hunger or malnutrition annually”.
The latest claims of children’s deaths were revealed by a non government organization, NGO, and rapidly hit the press headlines with the support from medical staff and relatives. They included the case of an 18 month toddler and a three year girl whose deaths were diagnosed as ‘infections’, however a third case involving another 18 month toddler revealed the truth: “sceptic shock caused by malnutrition”.
The Salta press and later the Buenos Aires media reported testimonies from the father of the dead toddler who crudely said that “when I returned from the woods my children were asking for food but I had nothing to give them. There are some days when we manage to have a meal and days when we don’t. When Leandro died, on that day we had had nothing to eat”.
Following the uproar and that of the three year old girl who was repeatedly sent back from hospital on five occasions Salta sanitary authorities reacted and according to some parents “four children in serious malnutrition condition were accepted in hospital and taken care by a nutritionist and nurses”.
Salta to the north of Argentina and next to Bolivia has a 1.2 million population with a significant number of indigenous communities much exposed to mal-nutrition, diseases and abandonment. Tourism and agriculture are Salta’s main industries and per capita income is half the national average.
“We have control over 100.000 children in those communities, but the latest situation indicates that our efforts are insufficient and there must be more vulnerable population which has no access to aid or support mechanisms”, admitted Urtubey.
The situation becomes worse in summer months when schools shut down and children are deprived of at least a hot meal a day provided by the kitchen school. This added to the increase in food prices plus the fact that kitchen schools in indigenous communities are not granted more than the equivalent of 250 US dollars per month. The summer heat and unreliable water sources have turned child diarrhoea and vomits endemic.
http://en.mercopress.com/2011/02/06/argentine-aborigine-children-die-of-malnutrition-and-poor-sanitary-conditions