Urgent action needed to save thousands of hungry children in Malawi – UNICEF

Immediate action is needed to save the lives of thousands of children under five in Malawi, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has increased its earlier appeal more than fivefold to $13 million as severe malnutrition increases alarmingly in the southern African country.

"The numbers of malnourished children are many times higher than the normal emergency threshold," UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa Per Engebak said.

He noted that more than 1,000 children with severe acute malnutrition were already receiving therapeutic feeding, with the number of monthly admissions expected to increase to 3,500 as many of the estimated 46,000 severely malnourished children seek treatment. A further 92,000 moderately malnourished children could become severely malnourished if they do not receive immediate assistance.

"Immediate and urgent action is needed to save lives," Mr. Engebak said. "At the moment, mothers in many areas are feeding their children only cassava, which is low in the nutrients children need.

"These children are in a precarious situation. We will work with the (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) to substantially increase the number of children benefiting from supplementary feeding from the current 16,000 to an additional 60,000 children and pregnant and lactating mothers," he added.

By all accounts, this year's food crisis may turn out to be worse than that of three years ago. Admissions of severely malnourished children to 48 Nutrition Rehabilitation Units run by the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and Action Against Hunger was one-quarter higher in August than during the humanitarian crisis of 2002.

"We have revised our earlier appeal from $2.5 million to $13 million," Mr. Engebak said. "Of this sum, we intend to use $9 million on nutritional activities, including expanding therapeutic centres, providing micronutrients to 500,000 pregnant and lactating women, and de-worming of children," he said.

The WFP is also rapidly expanding food assistance in seven southern districts and plans to reach up to 2 million people by early November with maize, pulses and oil. These measures, targeted at the poor and most vulnerable, will complement the efforts of government and other donors to ensure adequate supplies of humanitarian and commercial maize are available in country.