28 Dec 2011

SAHEL REGION / NUTRITION UPDATE

UNICEF estimates over one million children the Sahel region of West and Central Africa will need life-saving treatment for severe and acute malnutrition in 2012. Lack of rain, poor harvests and rising food prices have left hundreds of thousands of children vulnerable and weak. UNICEF

Posted at: December 28, 2011 5:15 pm

Duration: unifeed111228b

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STORY: SAHEL REGION / NUTRITION UPDATE
TRT: 2.16
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTION: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
 
DATELINE:  21 DECEMBER 2011, NEW YORK / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE - DAKAR, SENEGAL, 21 JULY 2011

1. Med shot, woman in the millet field, standing on parched earth
2. Pan left to right, woman picking millet in the dry field

FILE - LAKE CHAD, CHAD, APRIL 2011

3. Med shot, man breaking up soil in the field

FILE - MARADI DISTRICT, NIGER, 4 JUNE 2010

4. Close shot, malnourished child sleeping
5. Close shot, malnourished child

FILE - DAKAR, SENEGAL, 21 JULY 2011

6. Tilt up, from malnourished children to mothers holding them in their lap
7. Close shot, child's feet as he is examined for malnutrition
8. Med shot, doctors holding up baby being examined for malnutrition

FILE - MARADI DISTRICT, NIGER, 4 JUNE 2010

9. Wide shot, men sweeping the ground
10. Wide shot, women sweeping the ground

NEW YORK, 21 DECEMBER 2011, UNITED STATES

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Werner Schultink, Chief of Nutrition, UNICEF:
"The part of the population which suffers most and who are likely to face the most serious consequences for the rest of their lives are the very young children and they are innocent."

FILE - MARADI DISTRICT, NIGER, 4 JUNE 2010

12. Med shot, children playing with a rope
13. Wide shot, women and children standing outside a hut
14. Med shot, children sitting outside hut

NEW YORK, 21 DECEMBER 2011, UNITED STATES

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Werner Schultink, Chief of Nutrition, UNICEF:
"We have the technology and the knowledge to treat these children who suffer from severe acute malnutrition very effectively. If we identify them, if we get to them quickly enough, we can really cure them and prevent them from dying."

FILE - DECEMBER 2010, CHAD

16. Close up, emaciated child
17. Tilt down, emaciated child sitting next to his mother in hospital ward
18. Close shot, malnourished child refuses to drink milk offered by his mother

FILE – 2010, ZINDER PROVINCE, NIGER

19. Wide shot, UNICEF worker walks across camp
20. Pan left, from UNICEF workers to child being given a peanut based paste used for treating malnutrition
21. Close up, mother feeding malnourished child

NEW YORK, 21 DECEMBER 2011, UNITED STATES

22. SOUNDBITE (English) Werner Schultink, Chief of Nutrition, UNICEF:
" So we need to undertake actions to bring that level of chronic under nutrition down - and that also can be done by relatively simple things - if mothers would breastfeed more frequently, if the hygiene situation would improve, if hand-washing would improve, if effective diarrhea treatment would improve, if better provision of let's say simple package of vitamins and minerals would be provided at low-cost, you would already achieve a great reduction of this chronic under nutrition."

FILE - 4 JUNE 2010, MARADI DISTRICT, NIGER

23. Med shot, mother breastfeeding child
24. Tilt up, from chart to worker talking about personal hygiene
25. Med shot, woman washing her hands

FILE - AUG-SEPT 2010 - KAYES DISTRICT, MALI

26. Med shot, health worker holding a bottle of medication and talking to woman in village

FILE - CHAD, DECEMBER 2010

27. Tilt down, from health worker to mother and child

FILE – 2010, ZINDER PROVINCE, NIGER

28. Close up, Plumpy'nut ready to use therapeutic food used for treating malnutrition
29. Med shot, mother feeding child Plumpy'nut peanut-based paste for treating malnourishment
30. Close up, child eating Plumpy'nut 
31. Pan right, from mother to child eating Plumpy'nut

STORYLINE:
 
UNICEF estimates that over one million children in the Sahel region of Africa will face severe and life threatening malnutrition during the coming year. The organization is preparing to meet what it describes as a "huge challenge" and is already ordering therapeutic foods and distributing emergency stocks.

The agency's West and Central Africa office says the biggest caseload, with an estimated 330,600 children under-five at risk of severe and acute malnutrition is Niger, where the government has issued an alert stating over half of the country's villages are vulnerable to food insecurity.

SOUNDBITE (English), Werner Schultink, Chief of Nutrition, UNICEF:
"The part of the population which suffers most and who are likely to face the most serious consequences for the rest of their lives are the very young children and they are innocent."

Hundreds of thousands of lives could be lost if the international community doesn't act now.

SOUNDBITE (English) Werner Schultink, Chief of Nutrition, UNICEF:
"We have the technology and the knowledge to treat these children who suffer from severe acute malnutrition very effectively. If we identify them, if we get to them quickly enough, we can really cure them and prevent them from dying."

UNICEF is working with partners on the ground to prevent a wide-scale emergency.

SOUNDBITE (English) Werner Schultink, Chief of Nutrition, UNICEF:
"So we need to undertake actions to bring that level of chronic under nutrition down - and that also can be done by relatively simple things - if mothers would breastfeed more frequently, if the hygiene situation would improve, if hand-washing would improve, if effective diarrhea treatment would improve, if better provision of let's say simple package of vitamins and minerals would be provided at low-cost, you would already achieve a great reduction of this chronic under nutrition."

UNICEF urgently needs an initial $65,700,000 primarily for nutrition and health interventions and supplies. But this amount will be increased substantially to ensure sustainable interventions over the course of the coming year. These will involve not only enhanced nutrition and health programs but also provision of clean water, sanitation at feeding centers as well as emergency education and protection for children displaced with their families.