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From Fides ServiceMay 22, 2009
At least 45,000 children die every year from
malnutrition in Cameroon. This is what UNICEF, the UN's agency for children, has
declared in recent days. In their report on Africa, the organization speaks of a
“silent emergency,” as Cameroon appears to be one of the relatively stable
nations of sub-Saharan Africa, in comparison to the conflicts and refugee crises
present in the rest of the region. However, there are thousands of children in
the northern and eastern parts of the country that are suffering from serious
malnutrition.
According to the data published in recent days, in northern Cameroon global
acute malnutrition (GAM) – weight deficit for height – stands at 12.6 percent,
striking 115,000 children under five, according to UNICEF. Nearly forty percent
of children – some 350,000 – suffer chronic malnutrition. The World Health
Organization classifies a GAM between 10 percent and 14.9 percent as "serious",
warranting supplementary feeding; 15 percent and above constitutes an emergency.
UNICEF says new nutritional and health surveys in Cameroon are planned for later
this year.
The population of the north and extreme north regions is about 4.9 million –
more than the entire population of Liberia or Mauritania. The causes of
malnutrition in Cameroon are many and varied, and similar to those in many Sahel
countries, according to Garnier: lack of basic healthcare, food insecurity, poor
access to essential child-survival services and poor infant feeding practices.
Isolation of these zones is also a contributing factor.
Exacerbating difficult living conditions in eastern and northern Cameroon are
influxes of refugees from Central African Republic and Chad. Cameroon's openness
to the refugees is a positive factor, the UN says. This concept was also
expressed by Benedict XVI in his recent visit to the African country. The
government is working to respond to the emergency food situation, along with the
UN and NGOs. UNICEF also noted that there are still large sectors of Cameroon's
population that lack access to basic health services, safe water, sanitation
facilities and basic education. However, they also noted the government efforts
in this area.
In his visit to the country of Cameroon, Benedict XVI addressed the problems of
the entire continent, bringing them to the attention of the entire world public,
with the strength of his moral authority. Benedict XVI, upon his arrival in
Yaounde, spoke of Cameroon and the African continent in its entirety.
“Here in Africa, as in so many parts of the world, countless men and women long
to hear a word of hope and comfort. Regional conflicts leave thousands homeless
or destitute, orphaned or widowed. In a continent which, in times past, saw so
many of its people cruelly uprooted and traded overseas to work as slaves, today
human trafficking, especially of defenceless women and children, has become a
new form of slavery. At a time of global food shortages, financial turmoil, and
disturbing patterns of climate change, Africa suffers disproportionately: more
and more of her people are falling prey to hunger, poverty, and disease. They
cry out for reconciliation, justice and peace, and that is what the Church
offers them.” (Mtp)
