Medics aim to screen thousands of Gaza children for malnutrition
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A malnourished Palestinian boy receiving treatment at the International Medical Corps field hospital, in Deir al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip, on June 22.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip – Medics in Gaza said on June 24 that they were working to step up screening of young children for severe malnutrition amid fears that hunger is spreading as people flee to new areas.
Aid group International Medical Corps (IMC) and partners are planning to reach more than 200,000 children under five years old as part of a “Find and Treat” campaign, Dr Mumawwar Said, one of its doctors, told Reuters by phone.
“With the displacement, communities are settling in new locations that do not have access to clean water, or there is no adequate access to food,” he said. “We fear there are more cases being missed.”
Over the weekend, families were already going into an IMC clinic in the central city of Deir al-Balah, opened after the agency said it had to shut down two centres in the southern city of Rafah due to insecurity.
A malnourished Palestinian baby being held by his mother while receiving treatment at the International Medical Corps field hospital on June 22.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Five-year-old Jana Ayad had weighed just 9kg when she arrived, suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting, nutrition officer Raghda Ibrahim Qeshta told Reuters as she carefully held the child.
“My daughter was dying in front of me,” Ms Nasma Ayad said as she sat next to the bed. “I didn’t know what to do.”
Jana had started putting on some weight after treatment, medics said, but she was still painfully thin, with her ribs showing as she lay listlessly in her bunny pyjamas.
Staff can gauge nutrition levels by measuring the circumference of children’s arms. During a Reuters cameraman’s short visit, at least two of the measurements were in the yellow band, indicating a risk of malnutrition.
A group of UN-led aid agencies estimates that around 7 per cent of Gazan children may be acutely malnourished, compared with 0.8 per cent before the Israel-Hamas conflict began on Oct 7.
Until now, the worst of severe hunger has been in the north, with a UN-backed report warning of imminent famine in March.
But aid workers worry it could spread to central and southern areas due to the upheaval around Rafah that has displaced more than one million people and constrained supply flows through southern corridors.
Israel launched its military operation in Gaza after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
It says it has expanded efforts to facilitate aid flows into Gaza and blames international aid agencies for distribution problems inside the enclave. REUTERS
