Abeer Etefa of WFP reports that the barricades are being lifted and people are returning to their homes. There are food shortages and WFP is distributing wheat flour, oil and high energy biscuits. As of last week over 240,000 people had been given rations. More rations are on the way from warehouses in Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
“We have eaten everything in our homes and all we need now is food," said a market trader and mother of four, who came to a WFP food distribution this week.
WFP is appealing for 19 million dollars for their food relief operation in Kyrgyzstan. A great reconstruction effort is needed following the widespread destruction left by the conflict.
Laura Sheahen of Catholic Relief Services says, "hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes in the space of a few days." Shelter is an urgent crisis, with cold weather in Kyrgyzstan potentially arriving as early as September.
Food crisis in Uganda and Chad
In the Karamoja region of Uganda prolonged drought is escalating the food crisis in the country. Lydia Wamala of WFP reports says, "Karamoja is now entering the toughest time of the year – the hunger season – when food is even scarcer because the next harvest is still months away. It’s during this time that children are most vulnerable to malnutrition."
Wamala says the situation is urgent as "The effects of prolonged hunger on young children are devastating. Mental and physical growth can both be compromised -- irreversibly. WFP’s priority is to stop this happening."
WFP has posted a video appeal on their web site.
In Chad, drought is also causing havoc and malnutrition rates are on the rise. WFP is assisting 2.3 million who are impacted. See a WFP report on the hunger crisis in Chad.
Plumpy for Haiti
Some good news in the reconstruction effort for Haiti, of which food is the foundation. A shipment of supplementary plumpy has arrived to help treat malnourished children. The plumpy is a peanut-based food with special nutrients that can prevent a child from falling into the pit of dangerous malnutrition.
Edesia, a Rhode Island based producer of ready-to-eat foods, sent the 1.8 million packets of supplementary plumpy. The World Food Programme will be distributing the plumpy to 30,000 individuals within Haiti as part of its food relief operation.
Nutrition for children is especially critical in their early years for proper growth and for boosting their young immune system to prevent disease. Children in Haiti are particularly vulnerable as the country rebuilds from the earthquake. The key is ensuring their nutrition levels through this period of reconstruction and while food production capacity is being developed within the country.
You can follow Edesia on Facebook.
image courtesy of WFP/Abeer Etefa
originally published at Examiner.com
