Increase in Kinshasa feeding centre admissions

The number of new admissions in Kinshasa's feeding centres increased slightly in May, confirming a worsening nutritional problem in the city, an FAO food security report said. The report, received by IRIN on Thursday, said a total of 3,157 new cases were reported in Kinshasa's 119 therapeutic and supplementary feeding centres in May, up from 2,924 the previous month and compared to 1,623 new cases reported in May 1998. The increase "could reflect a slow deterioration of household nutritional conditions", it said. The Bureau diocesain des oeuvres medicales (BDOM), the organisation that runs the nutritional centres, has had to fix admission quotas due to lack of resources, which could lead to some children being refused assistance, the report added. A recent survey in Kinshasa indicated that some 10 percent of children under five years of age suffer from acute malnutrition, up from 7 percent found last year. About 125,000 children in the capital are thus estimated to be acutely malnourished, including 25,000 who are severely malnourished.