UNICEF: Economic crisis hits the poorest of India's poor

BIHAR, India, 29 May 2009 As the sun sinks into the horizon over the Kosi River in India's Bihar State, the scene is almost idyllic. Wooden ferries putter across the river as young boys wash buffalo and splash around in the shallows.

But in September of last year, the Kosi River, known locally as 'the sorrow of Bihar', caused human misery on a massive scale after its banks burst across the border in Nepal. The river flooded huge swathes of Bihar, displacing around 3 million people and destroying thousands of homes.

In the aftermath of the Bihar floods, UNICEF assessed the levels of malnutrition among children in the camps for those displaced by the disaster. The rates were alarmingly high.

Around 8 per cent of children were suffering from severe acute malnutrition, a life-threatening condition that requires immediate intervention. UNICEF supported local government authorities in providing ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) for these children. RUTF is a peanut-based supplement packed with essential nutrients for the child survival, growth and development.

As part of the flood response, UNICEF enabled 146 community centres to provide therapeutic care to 1,600 severely malnourished children between the ages of six months and five years.

Read the full story: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india_49839.html

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• UNICEF
• India
• Bihar
• State
• Kosi
• River
• children
• floods
• RUTF
• protection
• nutrition