Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
La Paz (Agenzia Fides) - Almost one third of the population of Bolivia is malnourished according to a UN report drafted by the local office in La Paz.
This is the highest percentage in Latin America. The serious problem concerns mainly children under five. Before the report was presented in Geneva during the recent session of the UN Human Rights Council, the alarm was raised by UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Jean Ziegler, who visited Bolivia last month. Ziegler said however that he was optimistic because the Morales government had launched interesting programmes for prevention and to find a solution to the food shortage. But he said he was concerned because Bolivia, “has one of the highest inequality rates in the world which clearly increases social conflict”, the report says.
It is estimated that every year malnutrition kills at least one million of the world's children under five: a child every thirty seconds. These children are twenty times more likely to die than their well nourished peers.
Hope comes from a recent common statement by the UN World Health Organisation WHO, the World Food Programme, WFP the UN Standing Food SCN and UNICEF, which says that three quarters of the children suffering from acute malnutrition but with a good appetite and no medical complications can be treated at home with enriched food therapy and ready to use RUTFs. Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs) are vacuum-packed sachets of high energy milk- and peanut-based paste, enriched with essential micronutrients. They are airtight, the food doesn’t need to be mixed with (potentially dirty) water, they have a long shelf life and they can be easily transported and distributed. Furthermore, they taste good, like sweetened peanut butter, which is extremely helpful in encouraging malnourished children to eat enough. Used extensively by several aid agencies in Niger in 2005, it is clear that RUTFs are extremely effective. One of the essential benefits of these packaged foods is that they can be used in a community setting. This makes it much easier for a patient’s family. They can collect a weekly or fortnightly supply from an outpatient clinic and can give the treatment at home. This means parents avoid having to spend long periods (generally several weeks) with their infant at a feeding centre.
“Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods are extremely effective”, said UNICEF executive director and SCN president Ann M. Veneman.
(AP) (8/6/2007 Agenzia Fides; Righe:38 Parole:455)
