четверг, 14 апреля 2011 г.

Food Aid Basket Missing Critical Ingredients - Dire Consequences For Children Under Two

As food aid is mobilized in response to the global
food price crisis, the international medical humanitarian organization
M?©decins Sans Fronti??res (MSF) warns that sending adult food to feed young
children will not save them from the risk of malnutrition. Today MSF urged
donors to ensure their aid includes special foods for young children.



MSF supports calls for increased food aid to families, but this will not be
enough.



"We see that when food prices rise the first thing to be reduced or cut out
are things like milk products that young kids need most," said Dr. Susan
Shepherd, nutritional advisor for MSF's Access Campaign. "This is why it is
so urgent that donors not only provide enriched flours, which are designed
to meet the needs of adults, but also help supply foods specifically
designed for growing kids."



In some places where MSF works, food prices are rising alarmingly. For
example, the price of sugar, flour, oil, and rice increased by 40 percent
in Sierra Leone from December to February, according to MSF's monitoring of
local markets. This is concerning because during the 2005 Niger food
crisis, when the price of millet tripled, MSF clinics were inundated with
malnourished children.



Conventional food aid continues to provide children with inadequate foods,
such as fortified blended flours that do not contain all the nutrients that
a young child needs. Children require diets that contain specific nutrients
included in animal-source food, like those in milk. Without essential
nutrients, young children are at risk for malnutrition that leads to
increased vulnerability to disease and increased risk of death.



"Unfortunately, donors continue to apply a 'one size fits all' approach to
nutritional aid," said Dr. Shepherd. "The wrong food aid can mean children
will still get malnourished and fall ill, or die unnecessarily."



Nutritionally, a critical window of time for children is from six months to
two years of age. At six months, a mother typically starts to supplement
breastfeeding her child with other foods. But for mothers in the world's
'malnutrition hotspots,' such as Africa's Horn and Sahel regions and parts
of Asia, it is difficult to meet a child's nutritional needs, either
because it is too costly, or because adequate foods are simply not
available. The situation becomes more acute when food prices rise.



Changing food aid to meet children's needs is possible. Nutrient-rich and
dense foods geared to the specific needs of young children exist, and have
been used successfully by ministries of health and international
organisations. Ready-to-use foods (RUFs) which require no cooking, added
water or refrigeration, deliver the full range of nutrients a child needs
in an energy-dense paste made with essential ingredients, including milk
powder. MSF is calling on donor governments to change current food aid
programmes and develop strategies on providing food supplements.



Ideally, families should be able to buy diversified food to feed their
children, but when this is not possible, supplements should be made
accessible to ensure that children do not become malnourished.



Malnutrition is a medical emergency that contributes to five million deaths
in children under five each year. The World Health Organization estimates
there are 178 million children that are malnourished across the globe, and
at any given moment, 20 million are suffering from the most severe form of
malnutrition.



M?©decins Sans Fronti??res

Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines

Rue de Lausanne 78

1211 Geneva, Switzerland

accessmed-msf

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