The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that a steep rise in malnutrition among children and pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza Strip poses grave threats to their health. From Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza, Dr. Imad Dardonahr describes the dire situation.
In the Northern Gaza Strip, nutrition screenings conducted at shelters and health centers in January in the north found that 15.6 percent – or 1 in 6 children under 2 years of age – are acutely malnourished.
Of these, almost 3 percent suffer from severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition.
Before the hostilities, wasting in the Gaza Strip was rare with just 0.8 percent of children under 5 years of age acutely malnourished.
The rate of 15.6 percent of wasting among children under 2 in Northern Gaza suggests a serious and rapid decline.
Such a decline in a population’s nutritional status in three months is unprecedented globally.
In the Northern Gaza Strip, nutrition screenings conducted at shelters and health centers in January in the north found that 15.6 percent – or 1 in 6 children under 2 years of age – are acutely malnourished.
Of these, almost 3 percent suffer from severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition.
Before the hostilities, wasting in the Gaza Strip was rare with just 0.8 percent of children under 5 years of age acutely malnourished.
The rate of 15.6 percent of wasting among children under 2 in Northern Gaza suggests a serious and rapid decline.
Such a decline in a population’s nutritional status in three months is unprecedented globally.
- Category
- United Nations
- Tags
- UN, United Nations, UNGA
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