Save the Children is still running two clinics in Gaza where they have been receiving and treating children for malnutrition for a long time.
In July, we saw a tenfold increase in children who were then diagnosed with acute malnutrition, says Cecilia Chatterjee-Martinsen to TT.
If a person does not receive help quickly after the diagnosis is made, there is a great risk that it will lead to death, she says.
”Open the borders”
The Save the Children CEO says that there is likely to be a large number of unreported cases in the reporting of the number of children who have died as a result of starvation and malnutrition. This is because some have not come to the hospital and are therefore not included in the statistics.
In addition to the children, 117 adults are reported to have died from hunger-related causes.
Information from within Gaza is difficult to verify, as international journalists are not allowed to report from the devastated strip of land. But international organizations have been warning for weeks of an impending famine disaster.
What is required is that the borders are opened, that emergency aid is allowed in, that Israel allows the UN system and the organizations that are on site to do their job, says Chatterjee-Martinsen.
But the most important thing is a ceasefire.
Johan von Schreeb, professor of global disaster medicine at the Karolinska Institute, agrees.
”Why is 100 a number to point out. Worse than 72 which is also damn bad. Tomorrow 253, in a week? Open the borders and stop attacking civilians.", he writes in a text message to TT.
Acute shortage
Jon Gunnarsson-Ruthman, chairman of Doctors Without Borders Sweden, says that the most acute phase of starvation needs to be treated with therapeutic foods. This includes, among other things, high-energy fortified milk for small children and peanut paste that has been fortified with vitamins and minerals.
The energy-fortified milk is unfortunately completely sold out, he says.
The peanut paste is also starting to suffer from acute shortages around the world due to budget cuts in aid.
This type of food is essential when the body has been exposed to starvation, because you have to proceed slowly in the acute phases, says Gunnarsson-Ruthman.
When the body goes through the acute phase, it cannot absorb nutrients in the same way and the stomachs are so small that you really need to monitor the intake, he says.
