Syrian children are suffering from severe malnutrition due to 12 years of US proxy war and economic blockade. Photo: Al Mayadeen.
By Sara Salloum – Jul 23, 2023
UNICEF confirmed that acute malnutrition among Syrian children is on the rise, as the number of malnourished children aged between 6-59 months has increased by 48% from 2021 to 2022.
The severe nutritional deficiency, which many Syrian families are now suffering from, as a result of the economic blockade imposed on the country, is no longer a secret to anyone. Consequently, the siege has caused a deterioration in the exchange rate of the Syrian pound and an increase in food prices compared with low wages, in addition to the conditions of displacement and the loss of resources.
The Syrians, who were self-sufficient in food throughout the years before the war and exported surpluses from their crops and industries, are now waiting for subsidies and food baskets from various international organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, which confirmed in a tweet that more than 9 million Syrians don’t know where their next meal will come from.
The most affected by these conditions are Syrian children, with more than 48% suffering from malnutrition.
According to the United Nations, 600,000 children are stunted and will soon suffer from disorders of the immune systems, and they will be 11 times more likely to die than well-nourished children.
‘My son doesn’t know the difference between a banana and a carrot’
Nour works as a hired housekeeper in Damascus, after her husband passed away, leaving her two children, one of whom is four years old and the other is still an infant.
The young woman in her twenties stood in front of the entrance of the building, counting the amount of money she got from cleaning the house. She carefully put 15,000 Syrian pounds, equivalent to two dollars, in her pocket and told Al Mayadeen English, “My family forced me to get married at an early age, due to the difficult economic conditions, but poverty still haunts me and my two children till this day.”
Nour did not know what to buy, as her list of needs is extensive, and they are all “priorities, not luxuries.” She said, “I suffer from severe anemia because of malnutrition. The government hospital diagnosed me for free, but it is difficult for me to buy medicines, as the price of iron medicine is equivalent to two weeks of work.”
Can you believe that I haven’t tasted meat in a year and a half, and my four-year-old doesn’t know the difference between a banana and a carrot?!”
Recently, the mother has been living in a state of severe anxiety after doctors diagnosed her infant son with severe malnutrition, as evidenced by his weight, which was only 8 kg. The MUAC Tape indicated 10 in red, which means that he had reached the dangerous stage of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).
She explained, “I couldn’t feed well during my pregnancy, therefore I was unable to breastfeed enough and could not afford formula milk due to high prices, so I used cooked starch with sugar, or tea and ground rice. We try to manage with the food aid we get, and the supplements the health center gives us, hoping that things will improve one day.”
Rate of stunting cases among Syrian children is the highest in the world
The results of the survey conducted by the Syrian Ministry of Health concluded that the rate of stunting cases among children reached 12.6%, which is almost the highest rate in the world, according to Dr. Sahar Idlibi, Secretary of the Syrian Pediatric Society, who told Al Mayadeen English, “The most important cause is malnutrition in early childhood. The child’s food does not contain all the necessary nutrients or his food is limited to a certain type of nutrients, which leads to a lack of energy and immunity.”
“The role of glands constitutes only 5% of the causes, in addition to genetic causes. Despite their direct impact, they do not affect the degree to which the child’s height is below average by a large difference.”
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The consultant of endocrinology, growth, and diabetes at the Children’s Hospital in Damascus asserted that the impact of war and natural disasters caused severe poverty and loss of basic nutrients. Consequently, children that do not have access to food are suffering from severe emaciation and are requiring a lot of effort for treatment.
She concluded by saying, “Despite the benevolent policy of international organizations in order to provide governmental health centers with basic nutrients, such as vitamin powder and peanut butter, especially for infants, we need great efforts and solidarity by everyone concerned, because we are facing critical care cases that need a record time for treatment.”
Warnings of exacerbation of the situation by end of 2023
Last March, UNICEF warned that 12 years of war and recent deadly earthquakes have left millions of children in Syria at increased risk of malnutrition.
According to its estimates, more than 609,900 children under the age of five in Syria suffer from stunting cases caused by chronic malnutrition that causes irreversible physical and mental damage to children, affecting their ability to learn and their productivity in adulthood.
The organization confirmed that acute malnutrition among Syrian children is on the rise, as the number of malnourished children aged between 6-59 months has increased by 48% from 2021 to 2022.
UNICEF considered that the high prices and insufficient income in Syria make millions of families struggle to cover their expenses in light of an unprecedented economic crisis, as 90% of the Syrian population lives below the poverty line, which negatively affects their children’s nutritional diet.
In a statement, the organization stated that more than 3.75 million children across the country were in need of food aid before the earthquakes and expected the situation to worsen and access to basic health and nutrition services to become more difficult by the end of 2023.
