At least 26 malnourished children have perished; scores others treated
Ramon Espinosa / AP
Venecia Lonis, 4, who suffers from malnutrition, is weighed at the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The 5-year-old teetered on broomstick legs — he weighed less than 20 pounds, even after days of drinking enriched milk. Nearby, a 4-year-old girl hung from a strap attached to a scale, her wide eyes lifeless, her emaciated arms dangling weakly.
In pockets of Haiti accessible only by donkey or foot, children are dying of malnutrition — their already meager food supply cut by a series of devastating storms that destroyed crops, wiped out livestock and sent food prices spiraling.
At least 26 severely malnourished children have died in the past four weeks in the remote region of Baie d'Orange in Haiti's southeast, aid workers said Thursday, and there are fears the toll will rise much higher if help does not come quickly to the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Another 65 severely malnourished children are being treated in makeshift tent clinics in the mountainous area, or at hospitals where they were evacuated in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere, said Max Cosci, who heads the Belgian contingent of Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.
One evacuee, a 7-year-old girl, died while being treated, Cosci said, adding: "The situation is extremely, extremely fragile and dangerous."
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4 comments:
Sad, sad, sad.
My sister sent this to me yesterday and I cried and cried.
I didn't see this story, how sad. Her eyes in that photo tell it all. Unbelievable.
Oh, I wish we could bring them ALL home to good homes here. So sad. That could be our kids, you know??
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