Read at :
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94533
YEMEN: Yemen malnutrition data should “shock”
Aid workers hope “shocking” new malnutrition figures from a survey conducted in western Yemen will help highlight the serious humanitarian situation in the country and prompt donors to act immediately.
Until now, aid workers say some donors have been unconvinced of the extent of the problem because of a perceived lack of evidence.
“It’s been a challenge,” one Yemen-based aid worker told IRIN. “Every time we sit down with donors, they say ‘Where are the figures? Where is the data?’”
Geert Cappelaere, head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Yemen, said donors have asked him for more evidence that malnutrition was such a priority.
“That kind of question – each and every time – kills something in me. Why do you want children to die first before you’re going to give any credibility to a disaster looming here in Yemen?”
Results
Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health and Population, with the support of UNICEF, surveyed 3,104 households in Hudeidah Governorate in October and collected data on 4,668 children under five.
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FOR YOUR INFORMATION (Willem Van Cotthem)
