AMMAN: The United Nations warned Monday of a “deepening crisis” of malnutrition in the Middle East and North Africa affecting a third of children.
“At least 77 million — or 1 in 3 — children in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have some form of malnutrition,” the UN children’s agency UNICEF said in a statement.
It said 55 million children across the 20 countries assessed are overweight or obese, which UNICEF considers a type of malnutrition.
A further 24 million children suffer from undernutrition, including stunting, wasting and thinness, it said.
“The deepening crisis of malnutrition in the region is being driven by what and how children are fed, poor access to nutritious foods, clean water, medical care and other essential services, and the proliferation of cheap, unhealthy poor foods high in salt, sugar and fat,” it added.
This takes place amid “ongoing conflicts, political instability, climatic shocks, and rising food prices that together, deny children their right to nutritious food and limit humanitarian access to vulnerable communities.”
Only a third of young children are being provided with nutritious foods, said UNICEF regional director Adele Khodr.
“This is a shocking statistic in 2024 and risks becoming even worse as conflicts, crises and other challenges in our region persist,” she said.
UNICEF urged governments to focus on nutrition in their planning and policy.
UN agencies said last month that conflict, economic turmoil and climate change had hampered efforts last year to reduce hunger, affecting about nine percent of the world’s population.
In a report, they estimated that about 733 million people experienced hunger in 2023, a figure that has remained largely the same for three years after a sharp rise following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moderate and severe food insecurity, which forces people to sometimes skip meals, affected 2.33 billion people last year — about 29 percent of the world’s population, they said.
UN says malnutrition crisis worsening in Middle East, North Africa
https://arab.news/8bnzn
UN says malnutrition crisis worsening in Middle East, North Africa
- UNICEF: At least 77 million in the MENA region have some form of malnutrition
- Conflict, economic turmoil and climate change had hampered efforts last year to reduce hunger
Washington presses Syria to shift from Chinese telecom systems
- Syria is exploring the possibility of procuring Chinese technology
- It was unclear whether the United States pledged financial or logistical support to Syria to do so
DAMASCUS: The United States has warned Syria against relying on Chinese technology in its telecommunications sector, arguing it conflicts with US interests and threatens US national security, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The message was conveyed during an unreported meeting between a US State Department team and Syrian Communications Minister Abdulsalam Haykal in San Francisco on Tuesday. Washington has been coordinating closely with Damascus since 2024, when Syria’s now President Ahmed Al-Sharaa ousted longtime leader Bashar Assad, who had a strategic partnership with China.
Syria is exploring the possibility of procuring Chinese technology to support its telecommunications towers and the infrastructure of local Internet service providers, according to a Syrian businessman involved in the procurement talks.
“The US side asked for clarity on the ministry’s plans regarding Chinese telecom equipment,” said another source briefed on the talks.
But Syrian officials said infrastructure development projects were time-critical and that Damascus was seeking greater vendor diversity, the source added.
SYRIAN OFFICIALS CITE US EXPORT CONTROLS AS TELECOMS BARRIER
Syria is open to partnering with US firms but the matter was urgent and export controls and “over-compliance” remained an issue, according to person familiar with the meeting in San Francisco.
A US diplomat familiar with the discussions told Reuters that the US State Department “clearly urged Syrians to use American technology or technology from allied countries in the telecoms sector.”
It was unclear whether the United States pledged financial or logistical support to Syria to do so.
Responding to Reuters questions, a US State Department spokesperson said: “We urge countries to prioritize national security and privacy over lower-priced equipment and services in all critical infrastructure procurement. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
The spokesperson added that Chinese intelligence and security services “can legally compel Chinese citizens and companies to share sensitive data or grant unauthorized access to their customers’ systems” and promises by Chinese companies to protect customers’ privacy were “entirely inconsistent with China’s own laws and well-established practices.”
China has repeatedly rejected allegations of it using technology for spying purposes.
The Syrian Ministry of telecommunications told Reuters any decisions related to equipment and infrastructure are made “in accordance with national technical and security standards, ensuring data protection and service continuity.”
The ministry said it is also prioritizing the diversification of partnerships and technology sources to serve the national interest.
Syria’s telecom infrastructure has relied heavily on Chinese technology due to US sanctions imposed on successive Assad governments over the civil war that grew from a crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011.
Huawei technology accounts for more than 50 percent of the infrastructure of Syriatel and MTN, the country’s only telecom operators, according to a senior source at one of the companies and documents reviewed by Reuters. Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Syria is seeking to develop its private telecommunications sector, devastated by 14 years of war, by attracting foreign investment.
In early February, Saudi Arabia’s largest telecom operator, STC, announced it would invest $800 million to “strengthen telecommunications infrastructure and connect Syria regionally and internationally through a fiber-optic network extending over 4,500 kilometers.”
The ministry of telecommunications says that US restrictions “hinder the availability of many American technologies and services in the Syrian market,” emphasizing that it welcomes expanding cooperation with US companies when these restrictions are lifted.
Syria has inadequate telecommunications infrastructure, with network coverage weak outside city centers and connection speeds in many areas barely exceeding a few kilobits per second.
