MALNUTRTION: UNICEF Yemen has delivered life-saving nutrition supplies (Plumpy'nut)

UNICEF and DFID deliver life-saving nutrition supplies to Saada



21/May/2011

SANA’A, 21 May (Saba)- In cooperation with the UK department for International Development, UNICEF Yemen has delivered life-saving nutrition supplies to the governorate of Saada in northern Yemen.

The three truckloads included life-saving therapeutic food Plumpy Nut, anthropometric scales, antibiotics, micronutrient supplements and other medication and equipment related to the management of acute malnutrition.
The supplies will cover the required treatment of 3000 children under the age of five suffering severe acute malnutrition. This figure represents about six percent of the total number of severely malnourished children in Saada.
“With some of the worse rates of malnutrition in the world, many children are suffering as a result of the humanitarian crisis in northern Yemen. British-funded supplies are now helping to save lives in Saada, thanks to the delivery of this emergency aid, including medicine and food supplements. But the suffering here is extensive and established. That is why we have just confirmed additional British support for UNICEF to tackle malnutrition in tens of thousands more children affected by the conflict”, UK Minister of State for International Development, Alan Duncan said.
The delivery is part of UNICEF Yemen’s emergency response plan, geared to provide all 15 districts in the conflict-ridden governorate of Saada with malnutrition management services. The governorate has long suffered repeated bouts of armed conflict between government-backed and Al-Houthi armed groups, displacing more than 300,000 people, a large number of whom are school-aged children.
The governorate has been inaccessible to humanitarian assistance for several years because of the conflict, and recorded some of the highest levels of acute malnutrition in the world. According to a nutritional survey conducted in 2010, about 45 percent of children under the age of five are acutely malnourished in some districts.
“The arrival of the convoy is a breakthrough for enhancing humanitarian space and ultimately for delivering the urgent assistance all children in conflict-affected Saada require”, says UNICEF Yemen representative Geert Cappelaere. “The supplies will last for one to three months, so we must make sure a continual pipeline of life-saving supplies is secured”.
It is estimated that the supplies will help revive and boost the services of 29 health facilities in the governorate, which have been semi-operational since the recent outbreak of armed conflict. With DFID funding, UNICEF has previously helped train 130 health workers in outpatient therapeutic programmes, therapeutic feeding centres and outreach mobile clinics, kickstarting the delivery of malnourishment services in Saada governorate. However an additional 300 health workers and 2,600 community health volunteers need to be trained to further boost the services in 95 health facilities throughout the governorate.
“Thanks to all involved parties, this life-saving corridor was now made possible”, says Cappelaere, “and with continued commitment of all, malnutrition can be eradicated. But this will require continued investment, commitment and capacity-building”.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news241775.htm

MALNUTRITION: BANGLADESH: Piloting community treatments for severe malnutrition

Photo: Jessica Mudditt/IRIN
Therapeutic feeding centre run by Médecins Sans Frontières outside Dhaka

19 November 2010 (IRIN) - Community-based treatments may hold the key to whittling down high rates of severe acute malnutrition among children under five in Bangladesh. A pilot scheme on this is being run by the NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which hopes to evaluate it by May 2011.
Half a million children suffer from severe “wasting” - or acute malnutrition - in Bangladesh. Due to starvation or disease they are far under the weight of healthy children their height, according to a 2009 survey conducted by the UN and the government.
The public health system has failed these children, according to a 2008 government report on the treatment of severely malnourished children.
“Active case finding [of severely malnourished children] in the community is rare or absent; many families cannot afford the economic and opportunity costs associated with facility-based inpatient care and health facilities cannot reasonably handle such a high case load," the report said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare in the report promoted community treatment as a solution for children who do not have medical complications.
Since May 2010, health promoters and MSF have been visiting homes to identify severely malnourished children and to offer almost 700 cooking demonstrations to mothers.
The classes emphasize food hygiene and offer new ways of preparing local dishes so nutrients are not lost.
Roxana Begum, whose son is recovering from severe malnutrition, told IRIN: “After a month, my son was sick of eating Plumpy’nut paste [protein-rich food]. So now I can also cook `khichuri’ [local lentil dish] in a clean and healthy way.”
The project operates in conjunction with MSF’s therapeutic feeding centre in Kamrangir Char, a slum on the outskirts of Dhaka with 400,000 people squeezed into 3sqkm.
A 23-year-old mother of two, Nusrat Jahan, whose son was diagnosed with severe wasting in June, has visited the clinic four times. “I was so worried about my son and… I had no idea where to find help.”
An MSF doctor, Shanmim Shafid, told IRIN he hopes the project will help change poor food habits. “Most mothers are working and don’t have time to cook, so children are left on the streets with enough money to buy cheap, sweet biscuits.”
Old challenges
The still-rising cost of food is one of several factors contributing to persistently high rates of wasting. Food prices in June 2010 increased by almost 11 percent over the previous year, according to the government.
Jahan told IRIN: “Our food intake consists of potatoes, 'dal ' [lentils] and rice. We never eat meat, because one kilogram of chicken would cost us more than our total daily food budget.”
Another factor is the lack of treatment facilities and specialists to treat severe malnutrition at most primary healthcare centres, said Diane Lindsey, the country director of NGO Helen Keller International - and more often than not there is no nearby health centre, noted the US-based Feinstein International Centre.
If judged to be successful financially and nutritionally, MSF will expand the scheme to other urban as well as rural communities, Niklas Bergstrand, MSF’s communications officer, said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=91131