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UNICEF delivers ready made food for Somali children
08.08.2011 10:03 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
The UN Children’s Fund is increasing its delivery of ready-to-use therapeutic food as the needs grow for Somalis fleeing the famine into Kenya.
The influx of new arrivals is straining resources in the Dadaab refugee camps and host communities.
Somali refugees are arriving in Dadaab at an average rate of 1,300 per day, and nearly half the children are malnourished.
The ready-to-use therapeutic food is extremely beneficial for the children, says Arnold Turner UNICEF’s senior advisor on micronutrients.
«Sometimes, after four weeks the child is absolutely, already at its target weight sometimes it takes longer, but within days you can see a change in the child’s appetite, but also alertness. Often the child when it comes in, it’s apathic, it does not respond to any external signals or its crying all the time. So very quickly, after treatment starts, we will see that the child starts feeling better».
UNICEF estimates it will need $315 million dollars over the next six months to scale up operations in the Horn of Africa’s drought affected areas.
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