聯合國：非洲之角兒童極度營養不良

The U.N. Children's Fund says drought-stricken areas of the Horn of Africa are afflicted by record high levels of malnutrition among children. The aid agency says tens of thousands of drought victims are fleeing to parts of Kenya and Ethiopia where they hope to find food.

聯合國兒童基金會表示，非洲之角遭受乾旱，當地兒童嚴重營養不良。這個機構說，數萬受災民衆正逃往肯尼亞和埃塞俄比亞的一些地方，他們希望在那裏找到食物。

The numbers are extremely alarming. The U.N. Children’s Fund estimates 480,000 children in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia will be severely malnourished this year. This is a 50 percent increase over last year’s figure.

營養不良的人數觸目驚心。聯合國兒童基金會估計，今年在索馬里、肯尼亞和埃塞俄比亞將有48萬兒童出現嚴重的營養不良。這個數字比去年增加了百分之50。

UNICEF finds the worst affected children are in southern Somalia, where at least one in three children is severely malnourished. UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado says humanitarian conditions there are the worst in a decade.

聯合國兒童基金會發現，兒童營養不良最嚴重的地區是索馬里南部，那裏每3名兒童中至少就有1人嚴重營養不良。聯合國兒童基金會女發言人梅爾卡多表示，那個地區的人道主義狀況是10年來最爲嚴峻的。

“Right now 2.85 million people, or one in three Somalis, is in crisis. That means lacking safe water and sanitation, health services, vulnerable to illness and at risk due to the conflict. In drought-affected areas of Kenya, monthly admissions for treatment of severe malnutrition are 78 percent higher than last year. In the Turkana district, that is up in the northeast, global acute malnutrition rates are the highest ever recorded in the district, at 37.4 percent,” Mercado said.

她說：“目前有285萬索馬里人，也就是說，三分之一的索馬里人處於危機之中。他們缺乏安全的飲用水、衛生設施、醫療服務，非常容易感染疾病，由於衝突而處境危險。在肯尼亞遭受乾旱影響的地區，每月因爲嚴重營養不良而接受治療的人數比去年高出了百分之78。在肯尼亞東北部的圖爾卡納地區，嚴重營養不良者的比例高達百分之37點4，是這個地區有史以來最高的。”

The United Nations reports more than 10 million people in the Horn of Africa are affected by the most severe drought to strike the region over the past 60 years. Two consecutive years or poor rain has resulted in crop failure and the death of up to 30 percent of livestock.

聯合國報告說，在非洲之角地區有1千多萬人受到60年來最嚴重乾旱的影響。連續兩年的乾旱，或者雨水不足導致作物歉收，多達百分之30的牲畜死亡。Aid agencies report an increase in food prices is pushing many moderately poor families over the edge. And, they say, people are fleeing to refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia in unprecedented numbers for food and help.

一些救援機構報告說，糧食價格上漲使很多貧困家庭陷入絕境。人們紛紛逃往肯尼亞和埃塞俄比亞境內的難民營，尋求食物和幫助。難民人數之多前所未有。

Mercado says almost half the children arriving in Ethiopia are malnourished. “In Melkadida refugee camp, crude death rates for young children are above the emergency threshold of four deaths per 10,000 children per day. The camps are extremely overcrowded, and the basics-safe water, sanitation, food, nutrition, shelter, are less than adequate,” Mercado said.

聯合國兒童基金會發言人梅爾卡多表示，在抵達埃塞俄比亞的兒童當中，幾乎有一半都營養不良。她說：“在梅爾卡迪達難民營，幼童的死亡率已經超過每天萬分之四的緊急指標。難民營極度擁擠，缺乏基本安全飲用水、衛生設施、食物、營養和住處等。”

Mercado says UNICEF is working with the U.N. refugee agency to scale up assistance to children in the refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. She says the needs are huge. Somalia alone needs at least $10 million over the next month.

梅爾卡多表示，聯合國兒童基金會正在和聯合國難民署一道努力，加緊幫助肯尼亞和埃塞俄比亞難民營內的兒童。她說，需求是巨大的。僅僅索馬里下個月就需要至少1千萬美元的救援。

She says UNICEF and other aid agencies have very little cash in which to take care of the basic needs of the millions of drought victims. She warns many children will die of hunger if there is not enough money to deal with this humanitarian crisis.

梅爾卡多說，聯合國兒童基金會和其它救援機構拿不出多少資金來照顧數百萬乾旱受害者的基本需求。她警告說，如果沒有足夠的資金來應對這場人道主義危機，很多兒童將因爲飢餓而喪生。