[pronut-hiv] ETHIOPIA: Malnutrition rates "critical" in the east, says study

["ProNut-HIV" <pronut-hiv@healthnet.org>]

ETHIOPIA: Malnutrition rates "critical" in the east, says study
 
NAIROBI, 8 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - At least one in five children in
drought-hit areas of southeastern Ethiopia is malnourished and two out
of every 10,000 die each day, according to a new study by Save the
Children.

The report, the first nutritional study to be completed in Ethiopia's
Somali region following the extensive drought in the area, found more
than 20 percent of the children to be malnourished.

"The prevalence of global acute malnutrition among the surveyed
population was estimated at 20.1 percent, which can be considered
'critical'," said the study.

"The under-five mortality rate and the prevalence of illness indicate
the presence of high risk of child illness and mortality among the
population in the surveyed areas," it added. Diarrhoea was the main
cause of death among children under age five.

"Measles vaccination coverage is very low, and with the current level
of child wasting, measles can contribute significantly to the under-five
morbidity and mortality, even beyond that age group," the study said.

The analysis of more than 900 children in two areas of Somali state
followed a warning from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) that
1.5 million youngsters are at risk in countries across eastern Africa,
including Ethiopia.

It said about eight million people in total were threatened with
drought-related malnutrition and potential famine in four nations:
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. Of those, 1.5 million are in
Ethiopia's Somali region and 250,000 in the southern Borana region.

Bjorn Ljunqvist, UNICEF-Ethiopia country director, said the figures for
Somali state were "alarming" and urged that assistance to
drought-stricken areas be boosted immediately.

Livestock-dependent nomadic pastoralists had been hardest hit by the
drought, with mass deaths of cattle, goats, sheep and camels. 

The report cited "very poor household level food availability, sharply
increased market prices of cereals and drastically decreased market
prices of livestock, significant deaths of livestock.

"As a result, households' income source decreased and as a result
children are becoming malnourished," it said.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has
started airlifting water storage tanks and medical kits to the region. 

"Based on recent field assessments about the impact of poor 2005 rains
in parts of the Somali region, the ICRC has started to assist
communities in areas where the drought is already having a significant
impact on livelihoods and household economies," the ICRC said in a
statement on Wednesday. 

A chartered airplane flew to Gode on Monday carrying pumps, water
storage tanks, veterinarian equipment, medical kits and various other
relief items.

The ICRC said it was supporting government efforts to cope with the
situation in the most affected areas of Bare in the Afder zone, along
the Wabe Shebelle River in the Gode zone, and further north in Danan,
Garb and Saga, close to the border with Somalia.