Mother and child at an MSF feeding centre in Oromiya, Ethiopia. May, 2008.
Photo by Elena Torta/MSF
MSF is intensifying its emergency activities in southern Ethiopia to respond to the alarming number of malnourished children it is treating there. To date, over 9,500 severely malnourished children have been cared for in the Oromiya and Southern Nations and Nationalities People's (SNNP) regions of southern Ethiopia. Unfortunately, 96 children suffering from severe malnutrition have died after admission to nutrition centres.
"Most of the people here live from farming, to get food or earn a basic income," explains Jean de Cambry, MSF Emergency Coordinator. "But in a number of areas, rainfalls this year were too late and too little. This, combined with high inflation, an increase in food prices, lower purchasing power and other factors, made the situation too difficult for many people to stand."
MSF teams have set up five nutrition centres in Kuyera and Sembete in the Oromiya region, and three in the SNNP region. These facilities provide 24-hour medical care to severely malnourished children also suffering from complications such as malaria or pneumonia. To date, 1,538 children have been admitted to these centres, with 320 currently receiving medical care. A lot of children registered in the MSF programmes have edema, a swelling that indicates a kind of severe malnutrition called kwashiorkor. In certain areas of Kambata district, SNNP region, about nine per cent of malnourished patients were over 14 years old, which is a worrying sign.
Severely malnourished children who are not suffering from complications are treated on an outpatient basis in outreach therapeutic programmes (OTPs). They are provided with therapeutic food on a weekly basis, but are able to stay at home with their families. They return every week to be monitored by MSF medical staff and can be referred to a stabilisation centre if necessary. A total of 8,046 children have so far been admitted to 42 outreach therapeutic programmes.
For MSF teams, the next challenge will now be to include moderately malnourished children in their programmes. "Until now, our teams have only had the capacity to care for severely malnourished children," says de Cambry. "But we expect to see many more children suffering from moderate malnutrition. They are at risk and need urgent feeding support."
The situation does not look likely to improve soon with the next harvest not due for two to three months.
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MSF has worked in Ethiopia since 1984.