Despite Aid, Malnutrition in Darfur Rises

Kimberly Mega Current Event Food Scarcity Feb 20th 8:01 pm

Approximately 16.1 percent of children in Darfur are malnourished and for the first time since 2004 the malnutrition rate has crossed the emergency threshold. This increase is despite the efforts of ten thousand relief workers and numerous UN agencies and aid groups. They are not sure why the levels of child malnutrition are rising, but some causes could be food insecurity, the restriction of access for relief workers, and continuous fighting. There is so much fighting and large numbers of displaced people that the relief workers are having difficulty transporting food. The UN is also saying the number of places they can’t reach is increasing. People are losing hope adding a decrease in mental health to the already malnourished population. The UN uses child malnutrition to assess the severity of the situation in Darfur. Malnutrition is highest among children aged six months to twenty-nine months. Child malnutrition is measured by using a ratio of weight versus height and severity is measured by how much that number deviates from the standard healthy child. When the wars were raging the acute malnutrition rate among children was 21.8 percent. A year later millions of dollars of resources were given and the rate declined to 11.9 percent. The number of Darfurians growing their own crops has decreased due to lack of access to farming. But there have been improvements in access to clean water and use of latrines. My heart breaks to hear of children being malnourished. In my health class we look at pictures of little kids with the distended bellies and stick thin limbs. They look so sad and lost that I just want to reach out and help them. Malnutrition is a severe issue in developing countries as well as dehydration. These children and their families will always be at risk while their countries are at war. We can try our very best to aid them but political and social unrest has too much of an impact. There are emotional and psychological affects that we can’t begin to heal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/world/africa/27darfur.html