At least 3,200 children under the age of five were diagnosed with acute malnutrition in Venezuela in the first four months of the year. This according to the most recent report of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), released this Monday.
“As of April 2022, 3,200 girls and boys under 5 years of age were diagnosed with water malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency. They were given treatment.” This is what the report says, which does not explain how much this number represents compared to the number of children analyzed.
Malnutrition
In the first quarter of the year, the report continues, the United Nations partners that provide nutrition care in the country reached 128,357 people; including 64,500 children under the age of five.
They also assisted 2,200 pregnant or lactating women “with health and nutrition services for the recovery of nutritional status and micronutrient deficiency.”
Another 31,000 children under 5 and 11,800 pregnant and lactating women also received fortified foods and micronutrients in the same time period.
The previous OCHA report for the first two months of the year reported 1,179 cases of acute malnutrition in children under 5 years of age in 20 states of the country; of which Bolívar and Miranda group 45%.
Thus, the new total of 3,200 cases shows almost a tripling in the detection of infants with this condition.
