Southern Africa
Health conditions aggravate Southern Africa famine

afrol News, 6 August - Increased malnutrition in Southern Africa is set to cause hundreds of thousand already ill people to die, and increase the spread of deadly diseases, a study in Malawi has shown. "Food aid must be accompanied by the provision of basic health services to avert tremendous loss of life triggered by the ongoing drought," the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday.

Devastating health conditions were putting 12-14 million people within Southern Africa at particular risk during the ongoing shortage of food. Rainfall failure had trigged a crisis which was being "exacerbated by a combination of long-term deterioration in health services, the ravaging AIDS epidemic and serious economic problems facing countries in the region," according to WHO.

- Weakened by hunger, many people will die of diseases, said WHO leader Gro Harlem Brundtland. "They could have survived these if properly nourished - if they had produced adequate food or been able to purchase the food they need," she added. "We are particularly concerned about data coming in from the field showing a doubling of life-time risk of maternal mortality in some areas, the continuing rise in tuberculosis, acute respiratory infections and malaria. We fear there could be at least 300,000 'extra' deaths during the next six months because of this crisis."

The conditions were resulting in increased malnutrition levels particularly among children, WHO warned. One Malawi survey, for example, had showed child malnutrition levels increasing from 6 to 19 percent in three months. These children were more susceptible to illness. "This is already causing higher mortality rates in all groups, with a crude mortality in some areas exceeding one per 10,000 people per day which means we are already facing a severe humanitarian crisis," WHO says.

- We're staring catastrophe in the face - unless we get food aid fast to millions of people whose lives are in the balance because they are starving, said World Food Programme (WHO) Director James Morris, who is also the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy to the region. "With each passing month the situation will get worse if we don't receive more food, water and medicine," he added.

WFP was currently doing a second round of assessments with results expected in mid August; these may well show a marked increase in the number of people at risk. According to present estimates, seven million people were requiring food now, rising to a peak of 12.8 million at the end of the year. To date, WFP has been feeding 4.6 million.

- People living with HIV have reduced immunity leading to increased death rates, WHO warns. HIV/AIDS in the region has severely hit the working population, often leaving households headed by very young or very old people. People with AIDS are less able to work in the fields, and the cost of caring for them also puts further pressure on families.

The prevalence rates in the six countries average at around 24.9 percent, ranging from 16.4 percent in Malawi to 33.7 percent in Zimbabwe. In Malawi 470,000 children have lost one or both parents to the epidemic.

Figures from Malawi had shown that while the number of deliveries at health facilities have decreased by 7 percent, maternal mortality rates recorded in these health facilities increased by 71 percent, due to malnutrition and poor health status, lack of prenatal care and the weak capacity of the health system.

As of April this year, WHO has reported a total of 22,023 cases, including 609 deaths (case-rate fatality rate, 2.8 percent) in Malawi while WHO considers that a case-fatality rate should be of less than 1 percent for cholera. This was a "clear indication that people, weakened by the lack of food, more easily succumb to disease."

The number of deaths could be "greatly reduced by improving basic health care for particularly vulnerable groups in parallel with distributing food aid," WHO said. In addition to encouraging essential help from international and non-governmental aid agencies, WHO was working to strengthen the countries' own capacity to provide health care in the worst affected areas. 

The emergency appeal for Southern Africa includes US$ 40 million for health and nutrition activities in addition to the need for over US$ 500 million for food. This financial support was "essential to avert a major humanitarian catastrophe over the coming months," WHO again reminded potential donors.

Sources: Based on WHO and afrol archives

© afrol News.    You can contact us at mail@afrol.com