WHO: Rise of Acute Malnutrition of Children in Gaza

WHO reported a significant increase in malnutrition among children in the Gaza Strip

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the number of children suffering from malnutrition in the Gaza Strip has risen sharply as a result of the ongoing Israeli occupation aggression since Oct. 7.

"90% of children under the age of 2 and 95 per cent of pregnant and breastfeeding women face severe food poverty meaning they have consumed two or less food groups in the previous day and the food they do have access to is of the lowest nutritional value", WHO said in a statement, adding that "95 per cent of households are limiting meals and portion sizes, with 64 per cent of households eating only one meal a day, and over 95 per cent of households said they had restricted the amount of food adults received in order to ensure small children had food to eat".

WHO said that surveys in the north of the strip showed that 15.6 per cent of children there, or one in six children under the age of two, suffer from acute malnutrition, with nearly 3% of them suffering from severe wasting, which is the most threatening form of malnutrition, and puts young children at risk of medical complications and death unless they receive urgent treatment.

Similar surveys in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, showed that 5 per cent of children there under the age of two suffer from acute malnutrition. These numbers are "clear evidence" that there is a need for humanitarian aid, WHO noted.

Source: QNA