ARGENTINA: GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES AGGRESSIVE CAMPAIGN TO PROVIDE FOOD AND HEALTH CARE TO MANOUURISED CHILDREN IN NORTHERN PARTS OF THE COUNTRY

Record ID: 347544

  • Title: ARGENTINA: GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES AGGRESSIVE CAMPAIGN TO PROVIDE FOOD AND HEALTH CARE TO MANOUURISED CHILDREN IN NORTHERN PARTS OF THE COUNTRY
  • Date: 25th November 2002
  • Summary: (W1) TUCUMAN, ARGENTINA (NOVEMBER 25, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LAS: EXTERIOR OF CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF TUCUMAN 0.03 2. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN THE HALLWAY OF THE HOSPITAL WAITING (2 SHOTS) 0.12 3. VARIOUS OF DOCTORS, MOTHERS AND CHILDREN IN THE ROOM WHERE MALNOURISHED CHILDREN ARE BEING CARED FOR (4 SHOTS) 0.26 4. VARIOUS OF
  • Embargoed: 10th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TUCUMAN AND FAMAILLA, ARGENTINA
  • Country: Argentina
  • Reuters ID: LVA3F24YFIQKN2ZJYNYCWR5MS28O
  • Story Text: The Argentine government has instituted a plan to
    provide health care and food to numerous children suffering
    from malnutrition in the northern part of the country.


    The Argentine government launched on Monday (November
    25) an aggressive campaign to bring food and health care to
    poor families in northern Argentina, where at least six
    children have died from malnutrition.

    In the impoverished province of Tucuman, 1,300 kilometres
    north of Buenos Aires, malnutrition is not a new problem, but
    doctors in the area said that this year the cases have doubled
    as a result of the economic crisis.

    In the Hospital del Nino Jesus, there are 56 children
    undergoing treatment for malnutrition including one-year-old
    Debora Santana. She was diagnosed with level 3 malnutrition,
    which means her body weight is 40 percent below normal.

    Many residents have accused the government for allowing
    the situation to reach this point.

    "I blame the whole government system because the national
    government did not make a sufficient enough investigation to
    know if the money had arrived to the province (over the past
    years) and had been handed out equally as it should have
    been," said Mirta, who works as a nurse in Tucuman's
    children's hospital.

    But Argentina's First Lady Hilda Duhalde has attempted to
    manage the situation by launching "Operation Rescue" in
    Tucuman, designed to bring health care and food to the
    province's families.

    "We have to organise ourselves so that there is not one
    pregnant woman and not one child not being attended to by the
    health system," said Duhalde.

    The First Lady arrived in Tucuman on Monday, accompanied
    by other government officials, to tour the province's poorest
    neighbourhoods. Hundreds of residents gathered in the
    community centre to make their demands heard.

    "It is not the first child that has died from
    malnutrition. They have been dying for 20 years and no one
    ever listened to us. We have been talking, we have been
    begging - this is not the first time that we've said it,"
    complained one resident.

    The First Lady's plan involves the deployment of some
    1,500 people, including doctors, nurses, soldiers, volunteers
    and national officials throughout the province to attend to
    people who cannot get to health centres.

    The operation leaders are also considering installing
    three hospitals in the province as well as providing a water
    truck, ambulances and helicopters.

    Four hundred soldiers are participating in the operation,
    bringing medicine and food to zones that are most lacking.

    The shipments were dropped off at hospitals where residents
    congregated waiting to collect 2 kilograms of milk, the first
    provision to be distributed in the campaign.

    However, area doctors claimed that "Operation Rescue" is
    only a short-term fix.

    "I don't believe that they are going to modify the
    situation entirely. It is not a treatment of any depth. This
    hospital continues lacking necessities," said Dr. Carlos
    Savino, who works 90 km from Tucuman at the Hospital de
    Famailla.

    Still, the Argentine government is going ahead full force
    with Operation Rescue, confirming that its presence in Tucuman
    is just part of a national plan that will eventually include
    10 other provinces.


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