25 August 2006 - Admissions to Action Against Hunger’s feeding centre in the state of Northern Rakhine (NRS), in Western Burma/Myanmar, have continued to increase over the past four months. More than 350 people are currently receiving treatment in our Therapeutic Feeding Centres compared with 100 normally.

A very difficult period

In NRS, the annual hunger gap – the gap between when one year’s food stocks run out and the next harvest– usually lasts from July to September. This year, the hunger gap period started earlier and people have been forced to look for alternative resources to feed themselves. The longer the hunger gap, the higher the risk of a food crisis.

To make matters worse, the rainy season began earlier this year, in May, and was followed by an unusual period of drought. Many vegetable crops were destroyed causing market prices to escalate. Heavy rainfall ravaged rice fields leading to a price increase of 40%. These climatic irregularities are likely to lead to a late harvest and the situation is set to deteriorate over the coming weeks. There are few opportunities for work and many families do not have the means to buy food.

Crowded feeding centres

In view of this situation, food insecurity in NRS is high and the number of malnourished children continues to increase. Action Against Hunger teams, present in the area for more than 10 years, are responding to a surge in admissions to feeding centres. 4,000 people are currently receiving food rations and 350 people are being treated in our Therapeutic Feeding Centres.

"We’ve had to adapt our activities to this situation," explains Anne-Dominique Israel, in charge of nutrition programmes in Burma/Myanmar. “In view of the significant increase in people affected, we decided to prioritise the most vulnerable people in terms of nutritional support and to provide family rations to others, depending on their nutritional state.”

Since 2006, admissions to feeding centres have increased. Another reason for this is the food aid activities carried out by Action Against Hunger since 2006, which helped to sensitize people, making them more likely to bring their sick children to the feeding centres.

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