UNICEF Fights Rising Childhood Malnutrition in Afghanistan
Malnutrition is on the rise in Afghanistan, the New York Times reported on Sunday, with hospitals across the country revealing significant increases in admissions for severe acute malnutrition among children.
Bost Hospital in Helmland province, for example, is admitting 200 children a month, a four-fold increase in two years.
The hospital has doubled its capacity, and Médecins Sans Frontières, which treats children there with UNICEF-supplied therapeutic milk and ready-to-use therapeutic food, is planning to open feeding programs at five satellite clinics in order to meet demand.
Therapeutic food, a protein-packed peanut paste, can help dangerously malnourished children gain up to two pounds in a single week.
The rise in malnutrition in Afghanistan appears to be the result of complex factors including endemic poverty, lack of access to clinics and the use of formula — often mixed with tainted water — in place of breast milk. UNICEF initially targeted around 35,000 children under for 5 for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition in 2013, but raised its target in the country to more than 52,000 on expectations of increased need.
UNICEF has also trained community health workers in isolated Badghis Province, conducted health education outreach for pregnant and lactating women, and supported nationwide mass media campaigns to promote an exclusive breastfeeding message.
A health worker feeds ready-to-use therapeutic food to Zabihuallah, a malnourished child, at a UNICEF-supported nutrition center in the Khan Kalacha area of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0802/Holt
