Govt, UN agencies respond to save hungry children

The government and UN agencies have stepped in with relief efforts in response to alarming malnutrition levels in southeastern Madagascar. A recent nutritional survey revealed that 400 children were suffering from acute malnutrition and would die in the next few weeks if interventions were not put in place. The assessment conducted by government, UN agencies and other NGOs found that up to 14,000 children could be acutely malnourished and 3,700 were suffering severe malnutrition in Atsimo Atsinanana in Fianarantsoa province. Stefanie von Westarp, a spokeswoman for the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), said the food aid agency had provided 100 mt of rice and 15 mt of pulses to food-for-work programmes initiated by the Malagasy government in six municipalities in the affected region. WFP would also provide 300 mt of food as targeted distributions to 7,800 families with moderate to severely malnourished children next week. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), with support from the Malagasy government, will soon have five therapeutic and supplementary feeding centres up and running in the region. Each of the centres set up in five villages will have the capacity to provide medical care to 300 children, according to Barbara Bentein, UNICEF's resident representative. International NGOs German Agro-Action and Catholic Relief Services, as well as a local organisation, ASERN, are also assisting in the interventions. The joint response is to be coordinated by the government, which is also helping WFP with internal transport to ferry the food to the south. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the government is considering issuing a formal request for international assistance. Flooding in early 2005, regular cyclones, parasitic infestation of sweet potato crops and now a drought affecting rice production, have left the local population struggling to cope.