Panama City, (EFE).- Armed violence has triggered severe acute malnutrition in Haitian children by 30%, in relation to 2022, and many will die if urgent measures are not taken, warned Unicef on Thursday, which needs raise $17 million for the early stages of the response to this crisis.
Malnutrition, which in its chronic form affects almost one in four children in Haiti, is increasing due to the conflict provoked by armed groups, which has restricted the access of minors to basic nutrition, health services and living conditions. safe water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH), the UN body said.
The malnutrition crisis is compounded by a persistent outbreak of cholera, which has dealt a severe blow to children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, also known as severe wasting.
In this context, “more than 115,600 children are expected to suffer from severe wasting in 2023, compared to 87,500 last year,” the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) said in a statement.
“More and more mothers and fathers are no longer able to provide adequate care and nutrition for their children, and parents are unable to take them to health centers due to the increase in horrific violence caused by armed groups,” which “combined with the ongoing cholera outbreak” causes “more children to suffer severe emaciation more quickly and will die if urgent measures are not taken,” said the UNICEF representative in Haiti, Bruno Maes.
Wrath lurks
The world body specified that more than 41,000 suspected cases of cholera have been reported in Haiti, of which 46% correspond to children under 14 years of age.
“As the disease sweeps through violence-affected neighborhoods, cholera and malnutrition create a double burden that the national health system cannot respond to due to critical shortages of human resources and lack of supplies,” UNICEF said.
It noted that “without urgently scaled-up child nutrition and survival interventions to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with severe wasting, as well as to prevent new cases of malnutrition, the situation could further deteriorate between now and October 2023.”
“UNICEF urgently needs $17 million in the early stages of the response to scale up early detection of child wasting, procure an additional 84,000 boxes of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) and deliver a complete package of nutrition, health, WASH , early childhood development (ECD) and child protection interventions to improve the emergency of children in Haiti”.
A funding gap “could put the lives of more than 100,000 children at risk of immediate death,” he added.
Unicef stressed that it has only raised 15% of the 210.3 million dollars it requires to provide this 2023 with vital goods and services to children and vulnerable populations in the context of insecurity, health, social and economic crisis in Haiti.
“With armed violence forcing women and children to flee their homes in Haiti, humanitarian needs remain high while funding dwindles,” the UN body said.