Special focus on nutrition
Acute malnutrition remains high but access to treatment keeps increasing
67 nutrition surveys have been conducted, between January and July 2010, in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia. Overall, the nutritional situation has seen little change in the region, except in Northern parts of Somalia where a significant improvement has been noticed: Kenya: Most of the 14 surveys conducted in Kenya took place in the ASAL areas, where malnutrition remained at high levels: rates of severe acute malnutrition ( S AM ) often reached 4% and more, while global acute malnutrition ( GAM ) was mainly measured between 15 and 25%. These rates are beyond emergency levels.
Uganda: Surveys conducted in Uganda were part of a nutrition surveillance system developed in the Karamoja region ( North East) , and showed medium rates of acute malnutrition, with prevalence around 1 and 2% for SAM and around 10 and 15% for GAM. These rates are consistent with previous years ' estimates.
Ethiopia: rates of SAM and GAM are low in most of the 18 surveys recorded for Ethiopia in the first quarter of the year ( 2nd quarter data not available yet ) . SAM rarely reached more than 1% for under 5 children while GAM mostly varied between 5 and 15%.
Somalia: Most surveys in the north showed GAM rates below 10% and SAM rates below 1%, indicating a significant reduction in malnutrition. However, rates of GAM and SAM in the south and in IDP camps remained very high, often higher than 20% for GAM and higher than 3% for SAM.
Lack of improved nutritional status of the mentioned populations should not hide the fact that major achievements have been reached in 2009 in terms of access to treatment for severely malnourished children and are continuing to improve in 2010.