Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

Experts Concerned Over Malnutrition in Palestinian Children

Aired July 28, 2002 - 11:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Violence is not the only health concern in the Middle East. Experts around the world are expressing concern over poverty and malnutrition in Palestinian areas. CNN's John Vause talked to one father about how his family is suffering under the curfew.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In his small house in Gaza City, Abdel Karim Meqdad faces a daily struggle. He hasn't worked for two years. His savings are gone, and now there is virtually nothing left to sell. But still somehow he must support his six children, wife and mother.

ABDEL KARIM MEQDAD, UNEMPLOYED FATHER (through translator): We haven't bought fruit for maybe three months. I'm even ashamed to talk about it. We're deprived of so many things.

VAUSE: Before the intifadah, he made a good living, about $40 U.S. a day at a bakery in Israel. He is one of an estimated 150,000 Palestinians who have lost their jobs because they're not allowed to leave the territories. Curfews which Israel says are crucial to stop terrorist attacks. In Gaza, where unemployment is close to 70 percent, Abdel Karim worries most about his boys.

MEQDAD (through translator): It's been so long since I've taken my kids for a medical checkup, and I'm scared. They're not eating well. One day they have cooked food; and one day we don't. I have three kids, as thin as sticks, because they just don't eat.

VAUSE: Two years ago, a study found less than 2 percent of children under 5 were moderately or severely malnourished. Now a study by Johns Hopkins University has found that malnutrition has jumped substantially; 31 percent suffering from mild to severe malnutrition; almost the same number are underweight.

Many say that curfews on the West Bank have stopped them from buying groceries. The main reason, though, according to the report, is money. They just can't afford to buy fruit, vegetables and meat.

PAUL MCCANN, U.N. RELIEF AGENCY: The World Bank survey found that something like 60 percent of Palestinians are living on less than $2 a day. That's approaching the kind of figures you see in sub- Saharan Africa. VAUSE: Traditionally Palestinian families helped each other in a crisis, but after the last two years, most can't afford to. There's just nothing left to give.

MCCANN: When the last of the jewelry is sold and the last of the cupboards are bare, I don't know where the Palestinians are going to be able to turn.

VAUSE: And according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, vaccination rates have fallen. Two years ago, 98 percent. Today, close to 60.

DR. MAJED ABU RAMADAN, PALESTINIAN HEALTH MINISTRY: A lot of children will die because they -- their immunity system decreased, and unable to defend the body because they don't eat properly.

VAUSE (on camera): Aid agencies are also concerned what all this will mean years from now. They fear that children who have such a poor diet in their early years will suffer from developmental problems, both mentally and physically.

(voice-over): Problems like proper bone development or severe depression. But for many like Abdel Karim, the crisis is now. How will he feed his family tonight?

John Vause, CNN, Gaza City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com