Child stunting reaches unprecedented levels in Syria – NGO
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The economic impact of the earthquakes that hit Syria 100 days ago threatens to push at least another 665,000 Syrians into hunger, with warnings that levels of child stunting and maternal malnutrition are reaching levels never seen before, Save the Children said on Wednesday.
Save the Children organization said, in a press release, that the number of Syrian’s food insecure and facing hunger had already reached 12.1 million people before the February earthquakes.
About one in four children under the age of five were already stunted across Syria, while in opposition held areas in northwest Syria alone, “child stunting rates had increased month on month from June to December 2022 and one in eight pregnant women were acutely malnourished,” according to the NGO.
The situation was already catastrophic, but the earthquakes worsened the situation, as well as the lack of medical services in this area and the difficulty of patients to reach the hospitals and health centers, the source added.
“The economic impact of the earthquake is likely to push even more children into devastating levels of hunger,” Rasha Muhrez, Save the Children Syria Response Director, said.
Save the Children called for unfettered access to all earthquake affected areas and implored donors to guarantee long-term funding so that aid agencies can make the necessary shift from treatment to prevention.
On May 15, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said the earthquakes affected 8.8 million people in several areas in Syria, displacing more than 470,000 people and more than 6.2 million others need protection.