Guatemala Suffers Food Shortage & Diseases
By Kat Vaughan
Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom declared his country "a state of public calamity" as 54,000 people suffer in hunger due to food shortages and the global economic crisis.
Lida Escobar, a field monitor for the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) in Guatemala, describes what she sees to BBC:
"In the eastern city of Jalapa I was astonished by what I saw. There were many many children with severe malnutrition problems. We found 22 children with marasmus and kwashiorkor [two nutrient deficiency diseases] in the hospital.
Kwashiorkor is a type of malnutrition in which the children swell because they retain liquids because of protein deficiency. Their hair can also become discoloured and they develop some skin lesions. Marasmus is another form of malnutrition in which the skin barely covers the bones because of a protein and calories deficiency. The children become very thin, lose hair and can become very irritable.
In Jalapa, the children are not only suffering from malnutrition but they also have to fight other diseases like bronchial pneumonia, gastrointestinal problems and diarrhoea. They lose their appetites and their bodies don't absorb the nutrients when they eat. As their body defences are low, they get sick very easily.
I also went to Chiquimula, in the town of Jocotan. I visited two nutritional treatment centres which have been treating children from the indigenous area known as Chorti. We found eight children recuperating there, most of them with Marasmus and Kwashiorkor.
The crisis has very complex causes.
Some children have developed these conditions because of the lack of food, but some because they have related diseases and are weak. The mothers say the children have fever and nausea and that, since they are not hungry, they don't give them anything to eat. The Chorti community have access to medical services through non-governmental organisations contracted to the ministry of health. To reach them, you have to drive and the walk for two hours through a mountainous area. In some cases there is help available, but there are problems with education. We found one girl that was very cold and about to die. We asked the mother why she hadn't taken her to the centre and she replied that they only take their children to the centre when the local shaman cannot do anything else to help.
In the most vulnerable areas, the WFP helps with a project in which we exchange food for work. This gives the community an opportunity to work in projects like soil conservation, reforestation, growing vegetable, fertilising and training. We also provide young children, lactating mothers and pregnant women with Vitaceral, which is a mixture of corn with fortified soy, micronutrients and fortified biscuits. It's very sad to see the children with marasmus and kwashiorkor. They just stare into space and it makes you wonder what they are looking at. What is their future? What are they thinking about?"
This story reminds me of my experience in San Pedro La Laguna several years ago. A group of us, including a medical team, were working in this village on the shores of Lake Atitlan and an emaciated baby girl was brought to the clinic, diagnosed with kwashiorkor. The baby girl was in deep suffering, starving with skin filled lesions. The story was that the poor father withheld any protein for the baby girl as she was the last in the pecking order of importance. Coveted protein was fed first to the males according to age, and then females. Needless to say, the baby girl never received needed protein. Although a local missionary brought the baby girl to Guatemala City for medical care, the baby girl eventually died.
Help us to provide food for poor families around Lake Atitlan by donating to schools today.
Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom declared his country "a state of public calamity" as 54,000 people suffer in hunger due to food shortages and the global economic crisis.
Lida Escobar, a field monitor for the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) in Guatemala, describes what she sees to BBC:
"In the eastern city of Jalapa I was astonished by what I saw. There were many many children with severe malnutrition problems. We found 22 children with marasmus and kwashiorkor [two nutrient deficiency diseases] in the hospital.
In Jalapa, the children are not only suffering from malnutrition but they also have to fight other diseases like bronchial pneumonia, gastrointestinal problems and diarrhoea. They lose their appetites and their bodies don't absorb the nutrients when they eat. As their body defences are low, they get sick very easily.
I also went to Chiquimula, in the town of Jocotan. I visited two nutritional treatment centres which have been treating children from the indigenous area known as Chorti. We found eight children recuperating there, most of them with Marasmus and Kwashiorkor.
The crisis has very complex causes.
Some children have developed these conditions because of the lack of food, but some because they have related diseases and are weak. The mothers say the children have fever and nausea and that, since they are not hungry, they don't give them anything to eat. The Chorti community have access to medical services through non-governmental organisations contracted to the ministry of health. To reach them, you have to drive and the walk for two hours through a mountainous area. In some cases there is help available, but there are problems with education. We found one girl that was very cold and about to die. We asked the mother why she hadn't taken her to the centre and she replied that they only take their children to the centre when the local shaman cannot do anything else to help.
In the most vulnerable areas, the WFP helps with a project in which we exchange food for work. This gives the community an opportunity to work in projects like soil conservation, reforestation, growing vegetable, fertilising and training. We also provide young children, lactating mothers and pregnant women with Vitaceral, which is a mixture of corn with fortified soy, micronutrients and fortified biscuits. It's very sad to see the children with marasmus and kwashiorkor. They just stare into space and it makes you wonder what they are looking at. What is their future? What are they thinking about?"
This story reminds me of my experience in San Pedro La Laguna several years ago. A group of us, including a medical team, were working in this village on the shores of Lake Atitlan and an emaciated baby girl was brought to the clinic, diagnosed with kwashiorkor. The baby girl was in deep suffering, starving with skin filled lesions. The story was that the poor father withheld any protein for the baby girl as she was the last in the pecking order of importance. Coveted protein was fed first to the males according to age, and then females. Needless to say, the baby girl never received needed protein. Although a local missionary brought the baby girl to Guatemala City for medical care, the baby girl eventually died.
Help us to provide food for poor families around Lake Atitlan by donating to schools today.
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