Children 'starving' in new Iraq

[pnutchuck]

Increasing numbers of children in Iraq do not have enough food to eat and more than a quarter are chronically undernourished, a UN report says.
Malnutrition rates in children under five have almost doubled since the US-led intervention - to nearly 8% by the end of last year, it says.

The report was prepared for the annual meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

It also expressed concern over North Korea and Sudan's Darfur province.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4395525.stm

[Bouncy Ball]

1. Nevermind.

The loudest and crassest Americans are too upset about one woman who should have been allowed to die years ago dying peacefully now to concern themselves with little hungry Iraqi children.

:cry:

[pnutchuck]

4. They're covering that here in Europe too, but it's not so

overwhelming as it is in the states. Schiavo gets a couple of minutes every few hours, but I'm watching actual news here like the Zimbabwe elections, the earth's decline study, war crimes tribunals, etc, etc....

[Bouncy Ball]

2. Oh but by the way, every DUer who reads this should

make a mental note of it next time they have a bushbot crow that things are "so much better!" in Iraq now. So much better my ass.

[pnutchuck]

3. Yeah, every study to come out of Iraq (not conducted by the US)

has said that conditions have worsened dramatically.

[Karmadillo]

5. Same old thing. Before we were starving them from a distance. Now

we're doing it up close and personal. The real difference is they're starving under a duly elected representative government instead of an evil dictator. Talk about progress. If only Leni Riefenstahl could be there to capture our triumph in all its glory.

http://www.unicef.org/newsline/97pr60.htm

Nearly one million children malnourished in Iraq, says UNICEF

Wednesday, 26 November 1997: Almost one million children in southern and central Iraq are chronically malnourished, according to survey results published today.

The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), carried out by the Government of Iraq with the full participation of UNICEF, looked at a range of health, nutrition and education issues -- from immunization and safe water to school enrolment rates. The survey, which covered a total of 6,375 households throughout southern and central Iraq last year, was followed by two further nutritional surveys in April 1997 and in October/November 1997, covering the same governorates, with the participation of UNICEF and support from the World Food Programme.

The most alarming results are those on malnutrition, with 32 per cent of children under the age of five, some 960,000 children, chronically malnourished -- a rise of 72 per cent since 1991. Almost one quarter (around 23 per cent) are underweight -- twice as high as the levels found in neighbouring Jordan or Turkey.

"What we are seeing is a dramatic deterioration in the nutritional well-being of Iraqi children since 1991," says Philippe Heffinck, UNICEF Representative in Baghdad. "And what concerns us now is that there is no sign of any improvement since Security Council Resolution 986/1111 came into force."

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