USAID reports hunger stalks Palestinian children

Social justice news
September 2002

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USAID reports hunger stalks Palestinian children
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USAID reports hunger stalks Palestinian children
A U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funded study of nutrition in Gaza and the West Bank under Israel occupation has uncovered "very disturbing trends in malnutrition and anemia rates among children under 5 years and women of childbearing age." As a result of the assessment findings, the U.S. government will increase food and emergency health and nutrition assistance to the affected population.

The study found "a moderate and severe acute [child] malnutrition rate of 9.3 percent (total Palestinian Territories)," a level that would be "considered an emergency by most humanitarians and public health officials." Child malnutrition was significantly higher in the Gaza Strip than in the West Bank. The study found that more than 13 percent of Gaza children could be described as malnourished while 4.3 percent of West Bank children were suffering nutritional deficiencies. By contrast, only 2.28 children in a normal population would be confronting this level of malnutrition.

The study found that "a significant proportion of children are chronically malnourished (moderate and severe combined 13.2 percent for the Palestinian Territories) with rates in Gaza more than double those of the West Bank (17.5 percent and 7.9 percent respectively)."

Long-term poverty and the ongoing Israeli reoccupation of West Bank and Gaza communities have been cited as contributing factors to the malnutrition. The Palestinian economy is in ruins after months of closures and blockades by Israeli authorities who say they are the only way to stop militants from getting into Israel to stage attacks. Palestinian workers have been prevented from travelling from the West Bank or Gaza Strip to Israel; Palestinian farmers and manufacturers have been unable to get their produce to shops in Israel.

The United Nations agency for refugees in the occupied territories, UNRWA, says it now feeds 217,000 families in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, compared to only 11,000 before the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000. According to the World Bank, more than 60 percent of all Palestinians are currently living on less than $2 a day, a level that would prove challenging in any developing society, but viturally impossible in an economy based on First World "Israeli prices."

According to the report, "Non-urban [Palestinian] areas show higher rates of acute malnutrition than urban although chronic malnutrition is slightly more prevalent in urban areas. This suggests that non-urban areas, traditionally the food-producing area of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, are now facing significant food security problems."

Commenting on the report, Larry Garber, Director for the USAID West Bank and Gaza Mission, said, "The early detection of these trends will prompt the introduction of interventions that should avert the negative long-term consequences of malnutrition and iron deficiencies." USAID plans to increase food assistance contributions through the World Food Program and the International Committee for the Red Cross, facilitate the introduction of iron fortified grain into the Palestinian markets, supply iron supplementation for use by pregnant women, and arrange training for Palestinian health officials in early detection of and proper treatment for malnutrition and anemia.

The assessment was carried out by Care International, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, and Al Quds University School of Public Health, and the Global Management Consulting Group. A key component of the assessment entailed a survey of 1000 randomly-selected households.

USAID conceived of and funded the nutritional assessment as part of its broad range of humanitarian and emergency response programs in the Palestinian Territories. Garber said: "The methodology, data collection, data entry and analysis utilized in the implementation of the assessment were of the highest professional quality. The institutions deserve particular credit for maintaining such high standards, notwithstanding the many obstacles encountered."

Download the report from USAID

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