ID :
210533
Sat, 10/01/2011 - 10:10
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/210533
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UN: Third of N. Korean children under 5 malnourished
SEOUL (Yonhap) - The U.N. food agency said a third of all North Korean children under five are chronically malnourished, the latest sign of food shortages in the communist country.
The World Food Program warned Friday on its Web site that many more children are at risk of slipping into acute stages of malnutrition unless targeted assistance is sustained.
It also said its aid monitors are seeing increasing numbers of malnourished children in hospitals which are often ill-equipped to treat them due to lack of medicines and supplies.
The food agency issued the dire warning as it announced that India's top envoy, Sanjay Singh, visited North Korean children in institutions and hospitals outside the capital city of Pyongyang last month.
More than 120,000 North Korean children and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are receiving food supplies due to India's US$1 million contribution to the food agency, according to WFP.
Meanwhile, experts from WFP and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization will visit North Korea on Monday for an annual assessment of the food situation, according to WFP.
Four teams that include international staff already deployed in the North are scheduled to travel extensively in 29 counties in nine provinces for the 15-day survey.
WFP said the joint food assessment report is expected in November.
Experts have said the North's food shortages may get worse after devastating floods washed away tens of thousands of hectares of farmland in the North in recent months.
The North has relied on international handouts since the late 1990s when it suffered a massive famine that was estimated to have killed 2 million people.
The World Food Program warned Friday on its Web site that many more children are at risk of slipping into acute stages of malnutrition unless targeted assistance is sustained.
It also said its aid monitors are seeing increasing numbers of malnourished children in hospitals which are often ill-equipped to treat them due to lack of medicines and supplies.
The food agency issued the dire warning as it announced that India's top envoy, Sanjay Singh, visited North Korean children in institutions and hospitals outside the capital city of Pyongyang last month.
More than 120,000 North Korean children and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are receiving food supplies due to India's US$1 million contribution to the food agency, according to WFP.
Meanwhile, experts from WFP and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization will visit North Korea on Monday for an annual assessment of the food situation, according to WFP.
Four teams that include international staff already deployed in the North are scheduled to travel extensively in 29 counties in nine provinces for the 15-day survey.
WFP said the joint food assessment report is expected in November.
Experts have said the North's food shortages may get worse after devastating floods washed away tens of thousands of hectares of farmland in the North in recent months.
The North has relied on international handouts since the late 1990s when it suffered a massive famine that was estimated to have killed 2 million people.
