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11/22/2004:

"Malnutrition Rising Among Iraq's Children"

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Malnutrition among Iraq's youngest children has nearly doubled since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq despite U.N. efforts to deliver food to the war-ravaged country, a Norwegian research group said Monday.

Since the March 2003 invasion, malnutrition among children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years old has grown from 4 percent to 7.7 percent, said Jon Pedersen, deputy managing director of the Oslo, Norway-based Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science, which conducted the survey.

The U.N. Development Program and Iraq's Central office for Statistics and Information Technology also took part in the survey.

``It's in the level of some African countries,'' Pedersen told The Associated Press. ``Of course, no child should be malnourished, but when we're getting to levels of 7 to 8 percent, it's a clear sign of concern.''

Figures from different countries are hard to compare, said Caroline Hurford, a U.N. World Food Program spokeswoman in Rome, noting that surveys may be out of date or apply different sampling methods.

A UNICEF survey of Middle Eastern and North African states in 2003 found 7 million children suffering from malnutrition.

Before the invasion, the level of malnutrition among children in Iraq was about 4 percent.
Full Article: guardian.co.uk