NewsWhore
02-08-2007, 06:00 PM
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is expressing concern about the increased levels of malnutrition among the Dominican population, as reported in the Listin Diario. According to the UN the percentage of malnutrition has increased from 6.1% in 2000 to 7.2% in 2006 and more than two million Dominicans, 27% of the population, suffers from hunger. According to Pavel Isa, WFP's representative in the DR, eight out of every 100 children in the DR suffers from irreparable growth retardation due to a lack of quality nutrition. Isa said that statistics show a decrease in malnutrition during the early 90s but there has now been an increase with there being close to 20,000 additional children affected by malnutrition from 2002-2006. Isa warns that the each year 2,500 more children will be affected if action isn't taken soon. Isa also cited data from the polls ENDESA (2002 statistics) and ENHOGAR (2006 statistics), which point out that between 7% and 9% of children up to the age of three suffer from chronic malnutrition, which translates into between 56,000 and 74,000 infants with irreversible growth retardation. Isa reminded the government of its promise to cut hunger in half by 2015, as part of the UN Millennium Goals, and lamented the fact that the US$200 million investment in food programs has been "indirect and ineffective".
Public Health Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez attributed the increase to mismanagement of the 2003 banking crisis by the past Mejia government, as reported in Diario Libre.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)
Public Health Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez attributed the increase to mismanagement of the 2003 banking crisis by the past Mejia government, as reported in Diario Libre.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)