- posted on 22/02/2012 14:50:14
Copyright: Save The Children / Per-Anders Pettersson
Remember, if you can, your child at three months old.
You’ll be picturing a happy, bouncing cherub with chubby cheeks and a killer smile.
Nothing like this image – of a baby girl weighing only 3.5lbs, with sunken eyes and a constant cry of pain.
Thank God it’s not possible in our part of the world for this to become commonplace.
But I worry there are so many images of starving children in Africa, on our TV screens and in newspapers, that we’re becoming desensitised to the whole crisis – or thinking it is hopeless and there’s nothing we can do.
In fact, it’s not hopeless. It’s preventable.
The warning signs were there about the current crisis in East Africa, but the governments failed to respond in time to stop it.
West Africa is now on the verge of a similar crisis, due to drought, high food prices and conflict.
Today a group of bloggers and campaigners are joining Save The Children to hand in a petition to 10 Downing Street, calling on the Prime Minister to sign up to the Charter to End Extreme Hunger.
Our friend Dorky Mum is going.
At the same time Save The Children is today releasing a report which reveals systematic failures in responding to early warning signs – until around 13 million lives were affected.
We’re praying the message gets through.
For the sake of children like Umi (pictured above) who nearly didn’t make it.
Umi’s Story
Copyright: Save The Children / Per-Anders Pettersson
Umi was just three months old when her mum Amina took her to see Daniel Wayoike, a therapeutic outreach nurse, who works in the Wajir South District of Kenya.
He explained: “Umi had been vomiting and hadn’t eaten properly for five days.
“She was visibly wasted and her eyes were sunken. She had bronchial pneumonia and was dehydrated. She weighed only 3.5lbs.
“Until recently, I had never seen a child in such condition”
Sadly, it’s becoming more common.
A deadly combination of failed rains and soaring global food prices has left more than 13 million people living in remote areas across East Africa – more than half of them children – without enough food and water and at risk of malnutrition.
Daniel added: “Many families here live remotely in the bush, looking after their animals, but their animals are dead due to the drought. They depend totally on their animals for milk and meat.
“Families don’t have anything to give to their children, they have lost everything and due to this, the rate of malnutrition has increased.”
Daniel gave Umi antibiotics and referred her to the local district hospital, where she received a nasogastric feeding tube and a nutritional supplement.
Amina had breastfed Umi, but she didn’t have enough milk so had to give her water instead.
The mother was suffering malnutrition too and three of her children were in a severe malnutrition programme.
Three months after Daniel first saw Umi, she was a healthy, plump, and smiling baby girl.
She came out of hospital after only a few days of inpatient care, and Save the Children took her back to her hometown where her parents were staying with a relative.
The charity’s nutritionist and community mobiliser visited daily, focussing on the need for exclusive breastfeeding.
Amina had been reluctant to do so, and wanted to give Umi some goats milk.
She was persuaded to breastfeed more frequently, and Save the Children’s food ration of high nutrient peanut paste helped Umi gain weight, stay nourished, and come back to life.
Copyright: Colin Crowley / Save the Children
At six months, Umi’s weight had increased to 10.3lbs – and she’d been able to fight off a respiratory tract infection because her immunity can fight diseases.
Daniel said: “Her star is shining bright and she will live to enjoy life ahead.”
Sadly, Umi’s story is an unusually happy one for this region, where children perish daily.
This crisis unfolded primarily in the drylands of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya – and was predicted in late 2010/early 2011. But nothing was done until the crisis had already cost money and, more importantly, lives.
Lives like Umi’s.
In Save The Children’s new report, published today, Jan Englund, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator from 2003-2006, said: “I saw how vulnerable communities and humanitarian field workers were denied the tools and resources necessary to save lives before it was too late.
“How come, more than a generation after man walked on the moon, we would let fellow human beings die needlessly because we would not give priority to meeting their most basic human needs in time?
“That the needless haemorrhage of human lives took place again in the Horn of Africa in 2011, in spite of all our knowledge and all our experience is an outrage.”
What we (and you) can do
As part of Save The Children’s #66Cities approach to this campaign, we’re representing Edinburgh (Donna) and Glasgow (Elizabeth).
We’re writing to our MPs, pressing for their backing – we’ll keep you posted on the response.
You can too. If you’re not sure who represents you, just type in your postcode here.
The government has said it is fully supportive of the Charter to End Extreme Hunger. Now we need as many people as possible to call on the PM to make that official and sign up to the Charter.
Almost 14,000 people have signed the petition so far, and if you haven’t already done so, please go to the Save the Children website and do so now.
One of the key points of the Charter is that governments need to act before food shortages become critical, threatening the lives of millions.
The warning signs were apparent in East Africa, but governments didn’t react in time.
Write to your local newspaper, or post about the campaign on a blog or local website.
Share this information on Twitter using the #66Cities hashtag, post it on Facebook or ask your friends to sign the petition, through whatever social networks you use.
Join today’s Twitter takeover
On Monday, over 250 campaigners tweeted their MPs asking them to raise a question on the Charter in Parliament today – visit #hungercharter to see the tweets.
Today between 12-1pm show your global support for the campaign by joining the Twitter Takeover when we will take over the Twitter feed for Prime Minister’s Questions #PMQs.
Let’s get people from around the world and UK talking Charter and asking David Cameron to sign up.
Here’s some example tweets, if you’d like to join in:
I’m asking David Cameron @number10gov to endorse the #hungercharter in #PMQs today. Join in the twitter takeover!
Join the Twitter Takeover @number10gov #PMQs now! 18,000 people believe Cameron should sign the #hungercharter
Will the UK show its commitment to preventing another hunger crisis? #PMQs @number10gov sign the #hungercharter now
Dangerous Delay report shows we must respond earlier to warning signs. Ask Cameron to sign #hungercharter at #PMQs
The crisis in East Africa must be the world’s last. Join the Twitter Takeover on #PMQs and ask Cameron to sign #hungercharter
13 million still affected by food crisis in Horn of Africa. Cameron must show commitment to prevent more suffering #PMQs
