UN food agency urges more aid for Mauritania to fight child malnutrition

Though food distributions are improving conditions for thousands of people across Mauritania, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today called for greater international aid in the “uphill battle” against malnutrition, especially among children in the south and south-east.

“Information from the affected areas indicates that where we are distributing, and where the rains have been good, food security is improving,” WFP Country Director. Sory Ouane said of the West African nation which was particularly badly hit by last year’s massive locust invasions as well as the ravages of successive droughts

“However, it is also clear that we are fighting an uphill battle against child malnutrition. We plan to expand our operation to include other badly affected areas and target the most vulnerable children there,” he added.

While the rainy season has generated vital pasture and the promise of an imminent harvest for the subsistence farmers of the south, the situation remains precarious.

Under its current relief operation, WFP Mauritania has already distributed close to 20,000 tons of food worth $11.4 million to some 400,000 most vulnerable people through various interventions, including free distributions. Distributions to 16,000 children and their mothers are also underway in over 200 supplementary feeding centres.

A WFP assessment in September showed a 17.1 per cent rate of global acute malnutrition among children under five in the south-east.

“The upturn that will come with the harvest will be welcome, but Mauritania is in need of much more international assistance to tackle both its immediate and long-term malnutrition problem,” Mr. Ouane said. “The more partners WFP can work with on the ground here, the greater impact we can have.”