UNICEF calls for greater international support to improve child nutrition in MyanmarYangon, 07 September 2005 – As the 3rd annual Nutrition Promotion Week comes to an end in Myanmar, UNICEF says that greater support is needed to protect Myanmar’s children and women against malnutrition – particularly anemia. Two billion people suffer from anemia worldwide, including approximately half of all pre-school aged children and pregnant women in developing countries. Anemia is even more prevalent amongst children and pregnant women in Myanmar. Anemic mothers die more often in childbirth, and are more likely to give birth to underweight children. Anemic children are shorter and less mentally agile than they otherwise would have been, and are more vulnerable to debilitating and potentially deadly diseases. Numerous factors can give rise to or aggravate anemia, including insufficient consumption of iron-rich foods, food insecurity, parasitic infections such as intestinal worms, and malaria. “This wide range of causes requires a wide range of responses,” said UNICEF Acting Representative Elke Wisch. “UNICEF needs additional funding to protect more children and mothers in Myanmar against anemia and other causes of chronic malnutrition.” Since parasitic infections are one major underlying cause of anemia in Myanmar, UNICEF works with health personnel to provide deworming medication to pregnant women and children two and nine years of age throughout the country. Parasitic worm infestations are a major underlying cause of anemia. UNICEF is also working with rural health services to provide approximately 70 million iron foliate tablets for 350,000 pregnant women across the country this year, as well as 207,000 bottles of iron syrup for children in target areas. Anemia prevention is just one component of UNICEF’s larger effort to improve the nutritional status of children and women in Myanmar. In recent years, UNICEF and its partners have protected thousands of children in Myanmar from infection and blindness by extending vitamin A coverage nationwide. Significant strides have also been made in combating iodine deficiency in Myanmar, primarily through the iodization of table salt, which has spared thousands of children from mental impairment. “The progress made in curbing vitamin A deficiency and iodine deficiency in Myanmar shows us that we can also significantly reduce anemia among children and women with the right support and funding,” said Ms. Wisch. “While Nutrition Promotion Week comes to an end today, our work to protect children from iron deficiency will continue.”
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) establishes that children have the right to survival and development. Myanmar ratified the CRC in 1991. *************** For further information please contact: Jason Rush Phone: (95 1) 212 086
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