Child malnutrition levels up in urban areas

More children in Zimbabwe's cities are going hungry, according to a UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) study examining nutrition in Southern Africa. "Malnutrition levels in Harare [the Zimbabwean capital] have doubled over the past four years and significantly worsened in Bulawayo [the second city]," according to UNICEF's nutrition and health officer, Claudia Hudspeth, who conducted the study. She noted that the "high levels of severe acute malnutrition, warranting immediate and urgent action", were causing particular concern. At least one-quarter of districts in Zimbabwe had high levels of severe acute malnutrition in children aged under five, while in one-third of all districts the mortality rates were approaching "emergency" levels. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), 5.5 million of Zimbabwe's total population of 11.6 million were at risk of food shortages up to the last harvest. WFP has continued targeted food distribution to vulnerable communities across the country. In Malawi half the children suffered from stunting - one of the highest levels in the world - and the country has continued to record progressive deterioration in child nutrition. Micronutrient deficiencies were also extremely high, with half the child population suffering from Vitamin A deficiency, said the study. While large-scale deterioration in child nutrition had been prevented in neighbouring Mozambique after an intensive humanitarian response to the food crisis over the past few years, a high HIV/AIDS prevalence in six provinces had increased vulnerability - almost 16 percent of these households had at least one orphan aged under 15 as a result of AIDS. Swaziland had one of the lowest rates of child malnutrition in the region, with 12 percent of its child population underweight and 31 percent stunted. However, Hudspeth pointed out that due to the high HIV/AIDS prevalence rate [30 to 40 percent] in Swaziland and Lesotho, UNICEF expected child malnutrition to worsen in both countries over the long term. "Across the region, HIV/AIDS is the single largest threat to child nutrition. New highly vulnerable groups are emerging: orphans, households with very high dependencies due to chronic sickness, death of productive adults, migrant- and single-parent households, and child-headed households, which need particular attention," Hudspeth stressed. In response, UNICEF and WFP have launched several large supplementary feeding programmes in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi, including community-based therapeutic feeding models.