WFP食糧不足のため、モーリタニアで子どもの飢餓急増（英文のみ）

CHILD HUNGER SPIKES IN MAURITANIA AS WFP RUNS OUT OF FOOD

Nouakchott - The United Nations World Food Programme today urged the international community to reach into its pockets and fund its vital food aid operation so that the desert nation of Mauritania can pull through the most difficult months of the year.

WFP’s relief operation in Mauritania is facing a complete break in supplies at the end of July - exactly the time of year when food needs are at their annual peak at the height of the ‘lean season.’ A total of US$4 million is urgently required to plug the gap until the end of the year.

In the past decade, Mauritania has suffered from a series of natural disasters including floods, droughts and locust infestations, which have left the poorest people living an increasingly fragile existence.

“This lean season is set to be as harsh as in recent years,” said WFP Country Director in Mauritania, Sory Ouane. “The work of WFP, the government and other organisations has gone a long way towards helping the poor deal with these difficult times, but this year we face a situation where we simply don’t have the funds to continue our assistance beyond July.

“What we need to cover the next few months is not a huge amount,” he said.

Most at risk from the looming break in supplies are WFP’s community cereal reserves, which allow villagers access to food just when the cost of cereals spirals beyond the reach of many. Should there be a break in supplies, about 350,000 people will have these cereal rations cut by 50 percent.

As the cost of food rises in Mauritania, livestock prices have dipped by as much as 22 percent in some areas. Recent famine early warning (FEWS NET) reports have warned that market prices are limiting purchasing power to a worrying extent and damaging household food security.

Many rural communities are already deeply in debt - something the cereal reserves are intended to combat. Most young men are unavailable to work the fields during the upcoming rainy season because they have left to seek work in Mauritania’s main urban centres.

WFP is looking for cash donations to allow for the rapid purchase and distribution of suitable food.

The nutritional well-being of young children is of particular concern. Over 260 feeding centres are currently open around the country, with that number due to double over the next few weeks in a project rolled out with the government and UNICEF. In some areas of Mauritania, malnutrition rates are already close to the internationally recognised emergency threshold and a particularly difficult lean season will only worsen the situation.

The feeding centres are an important safeguard against moderate malnutrition tipping over into the acute stages where young lives come under threat. Distributions to the centres are to be prioritised as gaps in supply could have serious consequences for the survival of young children.

“The simple fact is many of Mauritania’s rural poor - some of the poorest in the world - are relying on WFP, the government and NGOs to sustain them during this lean season. Lack of support at this critical time would be a massive failure by those who can very easily afford to make a difference,” said Ouane.

WFP’s relief operation in Mauritania aims to feed a total of 382,400 people in 2006 through support to village food reserves, food-for-work projects and nutritional feeding to children under five and pregnant and breast-feeding women.

Donors to WFP’s relief operation in Mauritania include United States (US$12.8 million), European Commission (US$1.2 million), Luxembourg (US$920,000), France (US$750,000), Germany (US$650,000), Venezuela (US$500,000), African Development Bank (US$500,000), Spain (US$382,000), New Zealand ($340,00), Turkey (US$300,000), Italy (US$272,000), OPEC Fund (IS$150,000).

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Recent footage of Mauritania (a VNR) is available; for further information contact Jonathan Dumont on 39 340 2249 140 or jonathan.dumont@wfp.org. Still photographs can be obtained through Rein Skullerud: rein.skullerud@wfp.org.

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: each year, we give food to an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs, including 58 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world's poorest countries. WFP -- We Feed People.

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For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Marcus Prior, WFP/Dakar, Mob. + 221 569 0267
Peter Smerdon, WFP/Khartoum, Mob. +249 91 215 3002, Kenyan Mob. +254 733 528 911
Brenda Barton, Deputy Director of Communications, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39-06-65132602, Cell. +39-3472582217
Cecile Sportis, Director, WFP/Paris, Tel. +33-1-70385330, Cell. +33-616168266
Gregory Barrow, WFP/London, Tel. +44-20-72409001, Cell. +44-7968-008474
Christiane Berthiaume, WFP/Geneva, Tel. +41-22-9178564, Cell. +41-792857304
Trevor Rowe, WFP/New York, Tel. +1-212-9635196, Cell. +1-6468241112, rowe@un.org
Jennifer Parmelee, WFP/Washington, Tel. +1-202-6530010 ext. 1149, Mob. +1-202-4223383