2007年VOA标准英语-Malnutrition Alarming in Kenya Refugee Camps

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
03 July 2007

Somali woman holding her child at a Dadaab refugee camp in Northern Kenya (File Photo)

U.N. agencies are warning malnutrition¹ rates in refugee camps in Kenya have reached alarming levels. The U.N. Refugee Agency, World Food Program and U.N. Children's Fund are urgently appealing for $32 million to reverse this situation. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

Twenty four million dollars is to go to the World Food Program, which needs a lot of cash to buy highly enriched food for the Kenyan refugee camps.

A U.N. survey shows the acute malnutrition rate in the Dadaab camps is higher than 22 percent and in Kakuma camp it is nearly 16 percent. This is well above the World Health Organization's emergency threshold of 15 percent.

U.N. Children's Fund spokeswoman, Miranda Eels², says an increasing number of people, especially children, are getting ill because of their weakened condition.

"Over the past year, cholera³, measles⁴, meningitis and Kenya's first case of polio in 20 years was recorded in the camps, worsening the fragile nutritional⁵ status of young children," she said. "So, UNICEF needs just under $600,000 to support the management of high acute malnutrition and tackle underlying⁶ causes that include poor infant feeding and breast feeding practices."

Eels says there is a critical need for complementary foods such as ground nuts that provide extra nutrients⁷, supplementary⁸ feeding for more children, and therapeutic⁹ feeding to treat dangerously malnourished children.

The Dadaab complex of three refugee camps hosts some 175,000 refugees, mainly from Somalia. This includes about 35,000 children under age five. Kakuma camp houses 62,000 people. More than 10 percent of the population is children.

The camps are in harsh, semi-arid environments. The Kenyan government does not allow the refugees to work outside the camps or to farm or graze livestock¹⁰. This means the refugees are almost totally dependent on international aid.

U.N. refugee spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis says her agency is chronically¹¹ under funded and has not been able to provide essential nutrition services, complementary foods, and non-food items to the refugees.

"In Kenya, they have received about 15 percent less of the firewood that they need, half the quantity of soap," said Pagonis. "They do not receive as much water as they should. And, so what has been happening is that refugees have been selling food to try and make up these other essential supplies that they lack."

Pagonis explains this current emergency is a result of a complex of factors. Last year, she notes, about 34,000 refugees fleeing conflict in Somalia fled to Kenya. She says this meant more mouths to feed on an already limited budget.

Bad luck struck again, she says, when extensive floods destroyed portions of the camps and cut off Dadaab from supply routes for nearly two months. She says the floods displaced hundreds of families within the camps, adding to an already difficult situation.

1 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

2 eels   

abbr. 电子发射器定位系统（=electronic emitter location system）

参考例句：

• Eels have been on the feed in the Lower Thames. 鳗鱼在泰晤士河下游寻食。
• She bought some eels for dinner. 她买回一些鳗鱼做晚餐。

3 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

4 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

5 nutritional   

adj.营养的，滋养的

参考例句：

• A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
• The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。

6 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

7 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 supplementary   

adj.补充的，附加的

参考例句：

• There is a supplementary water supply in case the rain supply fails.万一主水源断了，我们另外有供水的地方。
• A supplementary volume has been published containing the index.附有索引的增补卷已经出版。

9 therapeutic   

adj.治疗的，起治疗作用的；对身心健康有益的

参考例句：

• Therapeutic measures were selected to fit the patient.选择治疗措施以适应病人的需要。
• When I was sad,music had a therapeutic effect.我悲伤的时候，音乐有治疗效力。

10 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

11 chronically   

ad.长期地

参考例句：

• Similarly, any pigment nevus that is chronically irritated should be excised. 同样，凡是经常受慢性刺激的各种色素痣切勿予以切除。
• People chronically exposed to chlorine develop some degree of tolerance. 人长期接触氯气可以产生某种程度的耐受性。