05/09/06 BAGHDAD, 8 May (IRIN) – One in three Iraqi children is malnourished and underweight, according to a report released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Amman on 2 May.

“Under-nutrition should not be accepted in a country like Iraq, with its wealth of resources,” said UNICEF Special Representative for Iraq Roger Wright from the Jordanian capital, Amman. Wright added that ongoing insecurity served to deter parents from visiting health centres for essential services, while many health workers had been kidnapped or killed in different parts of the country.

According to the report, a full 25 percent of Iraqi children between six months and five years old suffer from either acute or chronic malnutrition. A 2004 Living Conditions Survey indicated a decrease in mortality rates among children under five years old since 1999. However, the results of a September 2005 Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis Ð commissioned by Iraq’s Central Organisation for Statistics and Information Technology, the World Food Programme and UNICEF Ð showed worsening conditions since the April 2003 US-led invasion of the country.
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