Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Yaounde (Agenzia Fides) – At least 45,000 children die every year from malnutrition in Cameroon. This is what UNICEF, the UN's agency for children, has declared in recent days. In their report on Africa, the organization speaks of a “silent emergency,” as Cameroon appears to be one of the relatively stable nations of sub-Saharan Africa, in comparison to the conflicts and refugee crises present in the rest of the region. However, there are thousands of children in the northern and eastern parts of the country that are suffering from serious malnutrition.
According to the data published in recent days, in northern Cameroon global acute malnutrition (GAM) – weight deficit for height – stands at 12.6 percent, striking 115,000 children under five, according to UNICEF. Nearly forty percent of children – some 350,000 – suffer chronic malnutrition. The World Health Organization classifies a GAM between 10 percent and 14.9 percent as "serious", warranting supplementary feeding; 15 percent and above constitutes an emergency. UNICEF says new nutritional and health surveys in Cameroon are planned for later this year.
The population of the north and extreme north regions is about 4.9 million – more than the entire population of Liberia or Mauritania. The causes of malnutrition in Cameroon are many and varied, and similar to those in many Sahel countries, according to Garnier: lack of basic healthcare, food insecurity, poor access to essential child-survival services and poor infant feeding practices. Isolation of these zones is also a contributing factor.
Exacerbating difficult living conditions in eastern and northern Cameroon are influxes of refugees from Central African Republic and Chad. Cameroon's openness to the refugees is a positive factor, the UN says. This concept was also expressed by Benedict XVI in his recent visit to the African country. The government is working to respond to the emergency food situation, along with the UN and NGOs. UNICEF also noted that there are still large sectors of Cameroon's population that lack access to basic health services, safe water, sanitation facilities and basic education. However, they also noted the government efforts in this area.
In his visit to the country of Cameroon, Benedict XVI addressed the problems of the entire continent, bringing them to the attention of the entire world public, with the strength of his moral authority. Benedict XVI, upon his arrival in Yaounde, spoke of Cameroon and the African continent in its entirety. “Here in Africa, as in so many parts of the world, countless men and women long to hear a word of hope and comfort. Regional conflicts leave thousands homeless or destitute, orphaned or widowed. In a continent which, in times past, saw so many of its people cruelly uprooted and traded overseas to work as slaves, today human trafficking, especially of defenceless women and children, has become a new form of slavery. At a time of global food shortages, financial turmoil, and disturbing patterns of climate change, Africa suffers disproportionately: more and more of her people are falling prey to hunger, poverty, and disease. They cry out for reconciliation, justice and peace, and that is what the Church offers them.” (Mtp) (Agenzia Fides 22/5/2009)
