Chad: Adapting emergency food aid to combat malnutrition

N'DJAMENA: While food aid is vital for tackling malnutrition, it cannot be the sole response when the condition is chronic as in Chad's western Kanem region, where aid workers have developed a programme to meet both urgent needs and long-term food insecurity.

Studies in Kanem by the World Food Programme (WFP) and NGO Action Against Hunger (ACF) in 2008 showed acute overall malnutrition levels of 20% and an under-five mortality rate of three per 10,000 per day - surpassing emergency thresholds.

"With worsening nutritional indicators and increased acute malnutrition there is a need for an urgent [response],” said Marzio Babille, representative of the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, in Chad. “But food aid is not enough as the causes for the current [nutrition] emergency are long-term and structural,” he said.

Read the full article on IRIN.