Read at : IRIN
YEMEN: Malnourished children arriving at al-Mazraq IDP camp
HARADH, 16 November 2009 (IRIN) – Aid workers at al-Mazraq camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Haradh District, Hajjah Governorate, northernYemen, say more and more children are arriving at the camp in a state of moderate or severe malnourishment.
“During our tent visits, we found that an average family has a severely or moderately malnourished child,” said Sarah Yahya, a volunteer working with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on identifying malnourished children.
Khalid Shaibani from the UNICEF-run therapeutic feeding centre (TFC) at the camp told IRIN the number of malnourished children was increasing by the day as new IDP families arrived.
“Two babies died from malnutrition complications just a few days after their families secured shelter in the camp. Another 10 were referred to a hospital in Haradh town, 40km west of the camp,” he said.
Of the 3,000 under fives targeted by a recent screening in the camp, 667 cases (22 percent) were severely malnourished and 200 (6.67 percent) moderately malnourished, according to Shaibani.
In September UNICEF screened about 1,200 under-five IDP children in the camp and found 7 percent severely malnourished.
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