Supplies critical to curbing cholera and respiratory infections

The first four planes carrying supplies to curb cholera and respiratory infections have arrived in Goma.  These first supplies were sent from Dubai by the UK’s Department for International Development.  Six more planeloads of supplies from the UK and USA will be airlifted into Goma over the next four days.  The supplies will be distributed by UNICEF’s distribution partners Solidarités and the International Rescue Committee to tens of thousands of people who have recently fled their homes due to fighting in North Kivu. 

One million water purification tablets and thousands of buckets and plastic tarpaulin sheets are now being packaged for distribution.  The water purification tablets will provide clean drinking water to tens of thousands, the buckets will enable them to carry it with little risk of contamination, and the plastic sheets will in part be used to build emergency latrines. 

UNICEF DRC Representative Pierrette Vu Thi stated “These supplies will help contain the spread of cholera and diarrhea, both extremely contagious diseases on the rise in nearly all internally displaced person settlements in North Kivu.  We are extremely thankful for these supplies and others that will arrive shortly.  They are critical to help save and improve the lives of children affected in the conflict”.

Plastic sheets will also be distributed to displaced families to provide them with emergency shelter.  Thousands of children have been sleeping out in the open in wet, cold conditions and are at high risk of falling ill.  This minimal shelter will help to ward off diseases such as malaria and respiratory infections.  Malaria and respiratory infections are the number one and two killers of children in the DRC, respectively. 

Thousands of blankets and cooking sets will also arrive.  Blankets will help keep children warm at night and cooking sets will enable food to be cooked and eaten with sanitary utensils.    UNICEF with its partners continues reinforcing its emergency measles vaccinations, free health care, protection of children separated from their families, emergency access to education, and water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions for hundreds of thousands of people affected by the conflict.    

After more than a decade of insecurity and conflict, the suffering of children in eastern DRC continues at monumental levels.  Only with durable peace and stability can eastern DRC’s long suffering children have the guaranteed possibility to survive and realize their potential.  UNICEF calls on all armed groups and actors to give this possibility a chance, to respect all children’s rights enshrined in international law.

About UNICEF DRC
UNICEF has mounted one of its largest emergency humanitarian operations in the world in the DRC.  UNICEF and its network of operational partners is responding to the needs of internally displaced persons, returnees, and host communities with programs in health, nutrition, education, child protection, sexual violence, essential household items, and water, sanitation and hygiene. In order to respect the fundamental rights of Congolese children to survive and realize their potential, UNICEF advocates for sustainable peace and stability in the eastern DRC.

UNICEF  

WHO and FAO alert countries to possible spread of melamine-contaminated dairy products
WHO and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are urging affected countries to ensure safe feeding of millions of infants following the ongoing melamine-contaminated milk crisis in China. The two agencies also call on countries to be alert to the possible spread of melamine-contaminated dairy products.

"While breastfeeding is the ideal way of providing infants with the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development, it is also critical to ensure that there is an adequate supply of safe powdered infant formula to meet the needs of infants who are not breastfed," said Dr Jørgen Schlundt, Director of the WHO Food Safety Department.

Replacing powdered infant formula with other products such as condensed milk, honey mixed with milk, or fresh milk is inappropriate as such products would put at risk the safety and nutritional status of this vulnerable population group, the two agencies advised.
"Restoring consumer confidence is critical. Melamine-contaminated products should be removed from the food chain in order to prevent further exposure. The safe supply of dairy products needs to be restored immediately,” said Dr Ezzeddine Boutrif, Director of the FAO Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division.

Safe feeding for infants

WHO recommends that all infants should be fed exclusively with breast milk for the first six months of life. No other liquid or food, not even water, is needed during this period. Thereafter, infants should receive adequate and safe complementary foods while breastfeeding continues up to two years of age and beyond.
Following reports of findings of imported melamine-contaminated products in several countries over the last two weeks, countries should closely monitor their markets. The two agencies highlighted that melamine-contaminated products could reach markets in other countries through both formal and informal trade. Getting information about the origin of the product, up-to-date recall information or in some cases testing for melamine contamination might be considered. If found contaminated, appropriate actions such as product recall and safe disposal should be taken, based on an assessment of the risk to human health.

Safe supply of food critical

Food safety is not the sole responsibility of public authorities. The food industry is also responsible for ensuring a safe supply of food to the consumer. “It is critical that the industry strongly invests in food safety and adopts a food safety culture covering the food chain from raw materials through to the final product,” said Dr Boutrif.
Incidents such as melamine contamination in China not only impact food safety and human health but also put the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of dairy farmers at risk. "There is a need for countries to do major investment in strengthening their food control and food-borne disease surveillance systems as it could minimize the potential occurrence of food safety incidents like this one," said Dr Schlundt.

The melamine-contaminated dairy products event first came to the attention of the international organizations on 11 September. Both WHO and FAO have used the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) to inform and update national food safety authorities on this crisis, one of the largest in recent years.
Over 54 000 children have sought medical treatment in China after drinking melamine-contaminated infant formula. Almost 12 900 are currently hospitalized.

Melamine is commonly used in food contact materials (e.g. containers, labels, etc.) and can also be used in agriculture production such as fertilizer. Whether this has a potential for carry-over into food at low concentrations (usually in the range of microgram per kilogram) and further impact on human health may need further evaluation.

Melamine on its own is of low toxicity. But animal studies have suggested that kidney problems occur when melamine is present in combination with cyanuric acid, a potential impurity of melamine. The level of melamine found in the contaminated infant formula has been as high as 2,560 miligram per kilogram of food, while the level of cyanuric acid is unknown.

WHO 

Earlier this month the Department of Health in Gauteng Province confirmed that two people living in the Chicken Farm informal settlement in Kliptown, an area in Soweto, had died after contracting the waterborne disease.

"The source of the infection has not been established, but an urgent investigation is underway to establish the source, identify and treat possible cases, and ensure no further spread of this illness," a spokesperson for the provincial health department, Zanele Mngadi, told IRIN.

Cholera is an intestinal infection causing acute diarrhoea and vomiting and, if left untreated, can cause death from dehydration within 24 hours. It is easily treatable with rehydration salts.

Deeper issues

Soweto residents point to deep-seated problems related to poor sanitation facilities and the lack of access to potable water. Patra Findane, national organiser for the Coalition Against Water Privatisation (CAWP), a pressure group agitating for free water for all in Soweto, said many more Kliptown residents were showing symptoms associated with cholera. Findane said there had been unconfirmed reports of a third case this week.

A joint statement by CAWP and the Kliptown Concerned Residents (KCR) read: "While it is a shock to everyone in the community to lose one of its members, it should not be a surprise ... the government's neglect of pleas for emergency intervention to combat the social and environmental crisis makes it fully responsible for her death." The statement was issued after members of the groups had visited the family of one of the two confirmed cases of cholera.

"Residents live in fear as they wonder who is next," the statement commented. "Despite all efforts undertaken by the poor residents of Kliptown to get its attention, the City continues to turn a blind eye."

Findane said local government's failure to adequately improve basic services delivery to a neglected township that is more than 100 years old had likely been the main contributing factor to the outbreak of the disease.

The informal settlements of Soweto have no sewage or drainage systems and the bucket system of human waste disposal is still widely used, despite promises by the government that the practice would be eradicated by the beginning of 2007.

Failing to isolate the source

Last week Johannesburg Water, the local utility, said the results of recent tests of the area's water supply confirmed that Kliptown's water was cholera-free and safe to drink.

Municipal spokesperson Baldwin Matsimela said the City of Johannesburg's Environmental Management System, which is part of Johannesburg Water and is responsible for sampling and monitoring surface water, took samples in Kliptown on 28 March and 8 April.

The samples tested negative for cholera on both occasions, and more samples were taken on 11 April but tests on these were also reported as negative for cholera.

"In addition, drinking water samples were taken from the informal settlement in the Kliptown area and the results were cleared of any contamination," Matsimela said.

Findane doubted this. "They say there is no cholera here, but all over Kliptown there are posters and field-workers from different local clinics warning people about the threat of cholera infection. So why should we believe the current cholera outbreak has nothing to do with terrible conditions the people live in, and that it is not a big problem?" he asked.

The CAWP has called on the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, the Department of Health and Johannesburg Water "to immediately act on the crisis in Kliptown. Without water and sanitation more people will continue to fall ill in this community."

Biotech companies are acting with impunity as cases of genetic engineering contamination continue on a global scale, a new report launched today reveals.
GM Contamination Register Report 2007, by Greenpeace International and GeneWatch UK, details 39 new instances of crop contamination in 23 countries over the past year. Most of the contamination involved such staple crops as rice and maize, but also included soy, cotton, canola, papaya and fish. Since 2005, the GM Contamination Register has recorded 216 contamination events in 57 countries since GE crops were first grown commercially on a large scale in 1996.

This year’s annual report on the Register is released on the same day a GE scandal in Kenya is exposed as Kenyan environmental and farmers’ organisations confront the government and United States seed giant Pioneer Hi-Bred with evidence of GE-contaminated maize seed in their country, and Greenpeace activists in the Netherlands protest shipments of illegal GE-rice varieties to Rotterdam.

“The contamination documented in the report is just the tip of the iceberg. Genetic polluters must pay. If a company contaminates our food and our environment, it must pay for the clean-up, compensate farmers, traders and consumers. We need international liability standards under the Biosafety Protocol to hold biotech companies to account,” Greenpeace International agriculture campaigner Dr Doreen Stabinsky stressed.

In Kenya, Greenpeace, in cooperation with local organisations, commissioned independent tests of maize seed varieties sold commercially. Pioneer’s seed maize PHB 30V53 was found to contain MON 810, a GE variety which has no approval for planting in Kenya and is banned in several European countries.

In the Netherlands, rice shipped from the US to Rotterdam was found to be contaminated with GE varieties not permitted for consumption outside of the US. Greenpeace Netherlands’ genetic engineering campaigner Marietta Harjono says Rotterdam harbour is one of the world’s biggest “GE contamination hotspots”, due to its role as first port of entry for much of the GE contaminated foodstuffs that enter Europe from the US. 

“Ongoing GE contamination in the world’s major food crops, particularly in rice and maize, shows genetic engineering companies are failing to keep control of their artificial genes. Without decisive government action, the world’s food and seed supplies will be under threat,” Stabinsky warned.