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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA: IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 402 for 7-13 October 2007

12 Oct 2007 11:38:21 GMT
Source: IRIN

NAIROBI, 12 October 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS:

KENYA: Model to predict child malnutrition GLOBAL: MSF urges new approach to malnutrition treatment DRC: Army recaptures villages as Nkunda appeals for new ceasefire DRC: More displaced as insecurity persists in North Kivu

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KENYA: Model to predict child malnutrition

A group of economists working with data collected in Kenya's northern arid districts have developed a model to predict severe child malnutrition - an indicator of famine - at least three months in advance. "Our forecasts are likely to be correct more than 75 percent of the time," said Andrew Mude, the lead author of the study.

"The [government-run] Arid Lands Resource Management Project has been collecting information every month since 1996 from households, such as herd sizes, lactation rates, mortality rates and child nutrition data - specifically mid-upper arm circumference - which we feel is an accurate determinant of the nutritional status of a child," he said.

Mude is with the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute, and one of the five researchers involved in the study, Empirical Forecasting of Slow-Onset Disasters for Improved Emergency Response: an Application to Kenya's Arid North.

[Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=74730 ]

GLOBAL: MSF urges new approach to malnutrition treatment

Médecins Sans Frontières has called for a radical shift in the way child malnutrition is treated across the world, saying therapeutic ready-to-use foods (RUF), such as Plumpy'nut, should be supplied much more extensively than is the case now.

Plumpy'nut is one of several brands of nutrient-rich pastes made from peanut and milk that are used to treat children with severe acute malnutrition, estimated to number 20 million worldwide.According to MSF, only 3 percent of these children will have received RUF in 2007. Lesser forms of malnutrition in children tend to be treated with fortified blended food.

"We are calling for political commitment [from ministries of health and donors] and more research that will facilitate the move from fortified blended food towards RUF," Dr Christophe Fournier, the president of MSF's International Council, said at a news conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. [Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=74737 ]

DRC: Army recaptures villages as Nkunda appeals for new ceasefire

Dissident Congolese general Laurent Nkunda has called for a fresh ceasefire, claiming that the army's artillery fire in North Kivu province was hitting civilians.

Government forces have retaken several villages from troops loyal to Nkunda, according to the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), MONUC.

"Army bombs are falling on civilians … we fear the worst will happen if we don't take precautions," Nkunda told IRIN by telephone on 11 October. "We'd like this to stop and for dialogue to take place because this is a problem that can only be resolved by dialogue, there is no solution with weapons."

Nkunda, who has resisted integration into the national army, says he is fighting to protect the Tutsi minority in eastern DRC. The army seemed bemused by the ceasefire appeal.

"Nkunda is calling for a ceasefire just 24 hours after unilaterally declaring war against the regular army," said Delphin Kahindi, deputy commander of the North Kivu military region, directly contradicting Nkunda's contention that it was the army that repeatedly broke the truce brokered by MONUC in September. [Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=74757 ]

DRC: More displaced as insecurity persists in North Kivu

A new wave of displaced civilians is on the move in the North Kivu province of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as dissident general Laurent Nkunda announced a ceasefire with government troops was broken.

"There are approximately 6,000 IDP [internally displaced persons] families at Mushake, 90km north of Goma, the provincial capital, fleeing the current clashes," said Maj Prem Kumar Tiwar, a spokesman for MONUC, the UN peacekeeping force in the DRC.

He added that clashes between the army and troops loyal to Nkunda were continuing. Tiwar said MONUC helicopters were monitoring the situation with frequent reconnaissance flights. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs was also due to send another assessment team to the affected areas, according to OCHA spokesman Louis Igneault. [Full report: http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=74716 ] [See also: Violence cuts off 150,000 people from aid - WFP http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportId=74693 ]

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: <a href="http://www.IRINnews.org">http://www.IRINnews.org</a>

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Last updated:Fri Oct 12 11:40:46 2007