The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today confirmed cases of severe malnutrition among children in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, where “emotionally distressed and mentally drained” doctors are working around the clock to save lives with very limited resources and local relief workers have reported 32 people have starved to death in the past month, UN News Centre reports on January 15.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today confirmed cases of severe malnutrition among children in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, where “emotionally distressed and mentally drained” doctors are working around the clock to save lives with very limited resources and local relief workers have reported 32 people have starved to death in the past month, UN News Centre reports on January 15.
UNICEF welcomed the access granted to trapped children this week and confirmed cases of severe malnutrition in Madaya following the agencies participation in the second joint UN/Syrian Arab Red Crescent/International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) humanitarian mission to the area on Thursday.
The UNICEF team and staff of the World Health Organization (WHO) were able to screen 25 children under five for malnutrition using the Mid-Upper Arm Circumference measurement. Twenty-two of the children showed signs of moderate to severe malnutrition. All of these children are now receiving treatment at the health facility using specialized medical and nutrition supplies that the UN and ICRC delivered on January 11.
While acknowledging that the findings of this mission are by no means a representative sample and the UN cannot yet draw conclusions from it about the overall nutrition situation, Ms Singer said it nevertheless provides a “real time reflection” of the situation on the ground in Madaya. The UN teams together with SARC plan to continue the assessment on Sunday for further follow up.
“The people we met in Madaya were exhausted and extremely frail. Doctors were emotionally distressed and mentally drained, working round the clock with very limited resources to provide treatment to children and people in need. It is simply unacceptable that this is happening in the 21st century,” she emphasized.
“While we express our shock over the situation in Madaya, let us not forget that across Syria, there are 14 other ‘Madayas,’” said Ms. Singer, stressing that these are locations where different parties to the conflict have been using siege as a tactic of war, depriving children and innocent civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies and services.
It ia also said that on January 14 UNICEF as part of a UN, SARC [Syrian Arab Red Cross], ICRC joint convoy, was able to send 10 trucks with a similar range of supplies to two other besieged areas, Foah and Kafraya benefitting the estimated 6,000 children trapped in the area.
In related news, WHO’s call for mobile clinics for Madaya has received agreement and the first clinic went to Madaya this morning, operated by a SARC medical team. The UN health agency also had an agreement to have a vaccination campaign in Madaya and hoped to set up vaccination facilities by next week, if all the organizational requirements were met.
