16 Jan 2009 Written by: Thin Lei Win
Tens of thousands of young children in large parts of Asia could die as a result of the food and economic crisis, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF has warned.
Under-five mortality in East Asia and the Pacific could increase by up to 11 percent in countries severely affected by the crisis, if the issue is left addressed, a UNICEF-commissioned paper says.
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“We’re not encouraged by the situation,” said Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta, professor of paediatrics and child health at The Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, who wrote the paper, “The Impact of the Food and Economic Crisis on Child Health and Nutrition”.
He voiced his worries that current health and nutrition safety nets won’t be adequate buffers against the expected deterioration in child and maternal health.
It is not all doom and gloom however. The paper says simple measures such as exclusive breastfeeding can address child health, and preliminary calculations show an increase in such steps can reduce child deaths by close to 20 percent.
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http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/52132/2009/00/16-143047-1.htm
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