AFRICA/ANGOLA - Drought and precarious sanitation exacerbate child malnutrition

Chiulo (Agenzia Fides) - The severe drought which last year hit southern Angola continues to threaten the health of mothers and children. In 2015 in the only hospital in Chiulo, 19% of pediatric hospitalizations regarded severe malnourished children, 15% in the first four months of this year. This alarm was launched by the NGO Doctors with Africa CUAMM which, together with UNICEF, has launched an intervention to counter acute and moderate malnutrition in the province of Cunene.
The initiative involves the hospitals in Chiulo, Xangongo and Cahama and the commitment of 1 pediatrician and 1 project manager who will work for the next three months in nutritional units of the structures to ensure that the little ones are hospitalized and receive appropriate care.
A communiqué of CUAMM sent to Fides, points out that climate change, subsistence agriculture which is still widespread, the precarious hygienic conditions and medical facilities which are not prepared to face the most severe cases, makes Angola one of the countries in the world with the worst rates of malnutrition. As for infant health in the country still today 161 children die out of a thousand. Altogether in the municipalities of Ombadja and Cahama, 5.5% of the 74,000 children under 5 suffer from SAM - Severe Acute Malnutrition. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 30/05/2016)

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