Hounde, Jul 28: Coronavirus and its restrictions are pushing already hungry communities over the edge, killing an estimated 10,000 more young children a month as meager farms are cut off from markets and villages are isolated from food and medical aid, the United Nations warned Monday.
In the call to action shared with The Associated Press ahead of publication, four UN agencies warned that growing malnutrition would have long-term consequences, transforming individual tragedies into a generational catastrophe.
Hunger is already stalking Haboue Solange Boue, an infant from Burkina Faso who lost half her former body weight of 5.5 pounds (2.5 kilograms) in just a month. Coronavirus restrictions closed the markets, and her family sold fewer vegetables. Her mother was too malnourished to nurse.
“My child,” Danssanin Lanizou whispered, choking back tears as she unwrapped a blanket to reveal her baby's protruding ribs.
More than 550,000 additional children each month are being struck by what is called wasting, according to the UN — malnutrition that manifests in spindly limbs and distended bellies. Over a year, that's up 6.7 million from last year's total of 47 million. Wasting and stunting can permanently damage children physically and mentally.
“The food security effects of the COVID crisis are going to reflect many years from now,” said Dr. Francesco Branca, the WHO head of nutrition. “There is going to be a societal effect.”
From Latin America to South Asia to sub-Saharan Africa, more poor families than ever are staring down a future without enough food.
In April, World Food Program head David Beasley warned that the coronavirus economy would cause global famines “of biblical proportions” this year. There are different stages of what is known as food insecurity; famine is officially declared when, along with other measures, 30% of the population suffers from wasting.
The World Food Program estimated in February that one Venezuelan in three was already going hungry, as inflation rendered salaries nearly worthless and forced millions to flee abroad. Then the virus arrived.
“Every day we receive a malnourished child,” said Dr. Francisco Nieto, who works in a hospital in the border state of Tachira.
In May, Nieto recalled, after two months of quarantine, 18-month-old twins arrived with bodies bloated from malnutrition. The children's mother was jobless and living with her own mother. She told the doctor she fed them only a simple drink made with boiled bananas.
“Not even a cracker? Some chicken?” he asked.
“Nothing,” the children's grandmother responded. By the time the doctor saw them, it was too late: One boy died eight days later.
The leaders of four international agencies — the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization — have called for at least dollar 2.4 billion immediately to address global hunger.
But even more than lack of money, restrictions on movement have prevented families from seeking treatment, said Victor Aguayo, the head of UNICEF's nutrition program.
“By having schools closed, by having primary health care services disrupted, by having nutritional programs dysfunctional, we are also creating harm,” Aguayo said. He cited as an example the near-global suspension of Vitamin A supplements, which are a crucial way to bolster developing immune systems.
In Afghanistan, movement restrictions prevent families from bringing their malnourished children to hospitals for food and aid just when they need it most. The Indira Gandhi hospital in the capital, Kabul, has seen only three or four malnourished children, said specialist Nematullah Amiri. Last year, there were 10 times as many.
Because the children don't come in, there's no way to know for certain the scale of the problem, but a recent study by Johns Hopkins University indicated an additional 13,000 Afghans younger than 5 could die.
Afghanistan is now in a red zone of hunger, with severe childhood malnutrition spiking from 690,000 in January to 780,000 — a 13% increase, according to UNICEF.
In Yemen, restrictions on movement have blocked aid distribution, along with the stalling of salaries and price hikes. The Arab world's poorest country is suffering further from a fall in remittances and a drop in funding from humanitarian agencies.
Yemen is now on the brink of famine, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, which uses surveys, satellite data and weather mapping to pinpoint places most in need.
Some of the worst hunger still occurs in sub-Saharan Africa. In Sudan, 9.6 million people live from one meal to the next — a 65% increase from the same time last year.
Lockdowns across Sudanese provinces, as around the world, have dried up work and incomes for millions. With inflation hitting 136%, prices for basic goods have more than tripled.
“It has never been easy but now we are starving, eating grass, weeds, just plants from the earth,” said Ibrahim Youssef, director of the Kalma camp for internally displaced people in war-ravaged south Darfur.
Adam Haroun, an official in the Krinding camp in west Darfur, recorded nine deaths linked with malnutrition, otherwise a rare occurrence, over the past two months — five newborns and four older adults, he said.
Before the pandemic and lockdown, the Abdullah family ate three meals a day, sometimes with bread, or they'd add butter to porridge. Now they are down to just one meal of “millet porridge” — water mixed with grain. Zakaria Yehia Abdullah, a farmer now at Krinding, said the hunger is showing “in my children's faces.”
“I don't have the basics I need to survive,” said the 67-year-old, who who hasn't worked the fields since April. “That means the 10 people counting on me can't survive either.”
Speaking at a Sadbhavna rally organised by the RSS in Rohtak — attended among others by Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat — Ramdev said: “Koi aadmi topi pehan kar ke khada ho jaata hai, bolta Bharat Mata ki Jai nahi bolunga, chahe meri gardan kaat do. Arey is desh mein kanoon hai, nahi toh teri ek ki kya, hum toh lakhon ki gardan kaat sakte hain. Lekin hum is desh ke kanoon ka samman karte hain. Koi aise khada ho ke bol de, isliye in hurdangiyon ke honsle buland ho jaate hain. Hum is desh ke kanoon aur samvidhan ka samman karte hain, nahi toh koi Bharat Mata ka apmaan kare, ek nahi, hum hazaron lakhon ke sheesh kalam karne ka samarth rakhte hain”.
Comments
Chal baba aaata Bejjjj!!!!...request to add razor or trimmer in your below standard product list.
We do not say the slogans of ki ka ku do whatever you want. Remember that there are many mothers and sister also do not chant those ki ka ku. Pishashi Baba running business empire for Nagpur RSS terrorists.
Patanjali promotion free of cost.
First you cut off head who export GOW MATHA
Dirty Hairy baba first shave your dirty hair if so much hair in the showroom how much should be in warehouse. clean yourself then come and bark in the public..narapishachi
Khamosh Teri aukat kya hai bikari rss bakt ..asad bhai to Sher hai asad bhaika gardan katenge phir bi woh nahi bolenge Bharat mataki jai humbi nahi bolenge chahe jitna zor lagalo sabse pehle agar deshkeliye jaan Dena haito hum musalman denge Hindustan zindabad
dirtiest person on the earth
Bharat Maatha means Nation of Mother? ..
If Nation of Father is Gandhi
So Nation of Mother is Sarojini Naidu ?
But in photo seems like a actress not a Sarojini Naidu
LOL... Perfect pic -CD...
Purely unclean and disgusting like many other Sanghis!
These guys and their speeches shouldn't be given a space in news columns. Coz nothing is gonna change, We will Not chant Bharath Mata Ki/Behen Ki/Beti Ki etc...
You heard what Assaduddin owaisi Said, Even if u threaten at knife point , he will not say it. First, try this threat with Asad Bhai. It will be more helpful for all of us.
Let this ugly creature first confirm whether BHARAT is male or female . His version of Bharat Mata is a beautiful lady with Bhagava flag riding on tiger - no sane Indian will accept it other than fascist group. Let this half naked start cut the heads of his own anti-national gang leaders who do not accept Indian Tricolour Flag and Indian National Anthem JAN GAN MAN ( their allegiance is to Saffron flag and Vande Mataram). Who are Deshdrohis - pseudo nationals who chant empty slogans or Secular Indians who are ready to sacrifice everything for the nation?
Publicity Gimmick
First shave HAIR on your body .....specially under your ARMS......
han jaise hum tho yahan tera suroor dekhney beitey hey BC!
He must be a butcher....
Muq maafi....
yet another cartoon in media. instead of improving the standard of his ugly personality & product patanjali he is here to threaten us. I wont chant that slogan you wrong number baba. dare to come and cut my head.. first go and cut those heads of swami and baba's like you who are under trial for assualting woman.
Add new comment