Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUnifeed
WHO / MALNUTRITION
STORY: WHO / MALNUTRITION
TRT: 1.27
SOURCE: UNDP / UNICEF / AU-UN
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
DATELINE: RECENT / FILE
FILE - UNICEF - 4 AUGUST 2011, DOOLOW, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
1. Close up, baby on a scale at feeding centre
2. Med shot, mothers and children
3. Close up, baby
4. Various shots, mothers and children at feeding centre
5. Various shots, child eating from plastic cup
6. Wide shot, mothers and children at feeding centre
7. Various shots, baby being fed
FILE – AU-UN - 4 AUGUST 2011, MADINA, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
8. Various shots, food distribution
UNDP - RECENT
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Banderas, Actor and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador:
“Across the Horn of Africa the worst food crisis in the world is unfolding. Drought, conflict, and high food prices have left people starving. Hundreds of thousands have left their homes, walking for weeks in search of food. More than twelve-million people are in desperate need and the numbers grow by the day.”
As a worsening food crisis continues to unfold across the Horn of Africa, the United Nations (UN) World Health Organization (WHO) today (10 August) launched a web-based tool that gives governments and health-care providers access to clear guidance on how to scale up life-saving nutrition interventions to combat all forms of malnutrition.
The WHO e-Library of Evidence for Nutrition Actions (eLENA), launched at the beginning of a three-day Asian regional meeting on nutrition in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is designed to help governments overcome one of the major challenges in fighting malnutrition – the vast, and often conflicting, array of evidence and advice that exists on effective, preventive and therapeutic nutrition interventions.
The online eLENA project will prioritize and present the latest advice on tackling the three main forms of malnutrition – undernutrition, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, as well as obesity.
The material in the e-library describes the effective health interventions needed to tackle malnutrition. Such measures include the appropriate treatment of severe acute malnutrition; promoting breastfeeding; and fortifying staple foods with vitamins and minerals such as iron and folic acid for wheat and maize flours.
It also recommends using multiple micronutrient powders to fortify foods for children aged between six and 23 months. To prevent anaemia, daily iron and folic supplements are advised for pregnant women, and intermittent iron and folic acid supplementation is recommended for menstruating women and pre-school and school-age children.
The tool is an important component of WHO’s global drive to help countries prevent and control malnutrition. The agency is a major promoter of the “Scaling up Nutrition” movement, which involves multiple UN agencies and other key entities in the nutrition field.
Meanwhile, film star and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador Antonio Banderas has launched a global appeal to assist more than 12 million people across the Horn of Africa left in need by famine, drought, conflict and high food prices.
Banderas, speaking of the crisis affecting Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, said that “hundreds of thousands have left their homes, walking for weeks in search of food” and “more than twelve-million people are in desperate need and the numbers grow by the day.”
The UN declared that famine – the worst stage of food insecurity - now exists in five areas in Somalia. The criteria include more than 30 percent of children being acutely malnourished, and four children out of every 10,000 dying daily.
On 29 July, the UN appealed for a further US$1.4 billion to bolster the ongoing response to the regional crisis, bringing the total funds required for the rest of the year to $2.48 billion.
Banderas has been a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador since March 2010.
Download
There is no media available to download.
