Child malnutrition in the Gaza Strip continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate, with the latest evidence showing a record proportion of children screened were identified as acutely malnourished in August.
The percentage of children identified as acutely malnourished in screenings across Gaza increased to 13.5 per cent in August, from 8.3 per cent in July. In Gaza City, where famine was confirmed last month, the percentage of children admitted with malnutrition was even higher, at 19 per cent, up from 16 per cent in July.
In raw numbers, the latest figures from nutrition partners in the Gaza Strip show that in August, 12,800 children were identified as acutely malnourished. But fewer children were screened overall in August due to 10 outpatient treatment centres recently closed in Gaza City and North Gaza due to evacuation orders and escalating military operations. In July, 13,000 children were identified as acutely malnourished, with far greater screening capacity and significantly less military activity to adversely impact access to malnutrition screening.
The situation for the most vulnerable continues to worsen. The proportion of children admitted for treatment who are suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) - the deadliest form - has continued to grow, rising sharply since the beginning of the year. In August, 23 per cent of children admitted for treatment were suffering from SAM, compared to 12 per cent six months earlier.
"In August, 1 in 5 children in Gaza City was diagnosed with acute malnutrition and in need of the life-saving nutritional support and treatment that UNICEF provides," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "We have been able to get more supplies into the Gaza Strip. But with military escalation in Gaza City, around a dozen nutrition centres have been forced to close, leaving children even more vulnerable. Nutrition services must be protected in Gaza City and across Gaza. No child should suffer from malnutrition, which we can prevent and treat when we have the access and can deliver safely."
UNICEF continues to stress the danger of an escalating military offensive in Gaza City. With limited or nonexistent shelter and services, the ongoing escalation is already resulting in disproportionate civilian casualties and driving the near total collapse of the remaining lifelines children need to survive - disconnecting children from the lifesaving services they need for diagnosis and treatment.
In addition to young children, pregnant and breastfeeding women are particularly affected by insufficient food intake. With health professionals forced to reduce nutrition services for this group, and little continuing support available, the risks to both mothers and infants are extreme. Already, one in five babies in the Gaza Strip is born prematurely or underweight.
UNICEF has been working to scale up the entry of essential nutrition supplies and distribute them, alongside nutrition partners, at about 140 sites across the territory. Stocks of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) have recently increased and should now be sufficient to treat the estimated number of cases of SAM in children between now and the end of the year. But, current quantities of other critical nutrition supplies inside the Gaza Strip for infants and pregnant and breastfeeding women are insufficient. More preventative stocks are urgently needed, alongside nutritious food, to stop malnutrition before it occurs.
Following the limited resumption of commercial goods entering the Gaza Strip, more food items are available for sale in markets, and prices are gradually decreasing from extreme levels. However, many essential goods remain unavailable or unaffordable, especially for the most vulnerable families.
UNICEF stresses the urgent need for greater amounts of food aid, along with dramatically improved delivery, distribution and accessibility, as well as nutrition supplies, shelter, fuel, cooking gas and food production inputs. It is critical to support the rehabilitation of the health system, maintain and revive essential health services, including primary health care, and ensure sustained delivery of health supplies into and across Gaza. The restoration of commercial flows at scale, market systems, essential services, and local food production is also vital if the worst outcomes of the famine are to be avoided.
UNICEF is calling on all parties to reinstate the ceasefire and to respect their obligations under international law. Civilians, and the critical infrastructure they rely on - including hospitals, shelters, nutrition centres, and water systems - must always be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law. Civilians, including families under evacuation orders, must be protected and allowed to move freely to safety, never forcibly displaced. Israel must allow the rapid and unimpeded entry of sufficient humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, and ensure safe, sustained and consistent access for humanitarian personnel to deliver lifesaving assistance wherever it is needed. UNICEF also calls on Hamas and other armed groups to immediately release all the remaining hostages.
