The United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF) is alarmed by the gross malnutrition of children in the Central African Republic (CAR). The extent of severe malnutrition affecting children in the country, according to figures from the UN agency, reveals nearly 700,000 children under 5 years living below acceptable nutrition thresholds, and many are now on the verge of survival.

The rate of acute malnutrition has reached 16 percent of children under 5 years in the three southern provinces of Mambéré Kadei, Sangha Mbaéré, and Lobaye. Of the same age group, 6.6 percent are severely acutely malnourished. These rates are ‘far above the emergency thresholds of 2 per cent for severe acute malnutrition and 15 per cent for global acute malnutrition,’ according to UNICEF.

The causes of this chronic malnutrition are multiple, according to the UN agency, foremost of which is the pervading extreme poverty in the Central African Republic where more than six out of ten people live on less than $1.25 per day. The global financial crisis and the displacement of populations due to the ongoing conflict weigh on the economy, UNICEF adds. Consequently, income of the diamond mining sector has been severely affected by the economic downturn.

Exacerbating the alarming instability in the country, internal conflicts have been multiplying since 2005, particularly in the north where tens of thousands have been displaced.

Affirming that many of the 700,000 affected children are now on the verge of survival, UNICEF launched an appeal for funds of $ 1.5 million for the purchase and distribution of therapeutic food and medicines.

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Via UNICEF