Health
UNICEF facing critical funding gap for severely malnourished Afghan children
![](https://www.ariananews.af/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/RUTF-Afghanistan.jpg)
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in Afghanistan on Thursday said it is facing a critical funding gap for ready-to-use-food for severely malnourished children in Afghanistan.
Melanie Galvin, UNICEF Chief of Nutrition said in a video recording posted to Twitter that without additional funds to stock health facilities with this lifesaving treatment, thousands of children could die from severe acute malnutrition.
She said 875,000 children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year.
“In short term, severe acute malnutrition is life threatening. In the long term it can have growth and mental development issues that affect a child throughout their lives,” said Galvin.
She said ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) was the simple solution.
“This is a highly efficient and effective, small package that we give to children, and they can be cured in as little as eight weeks,” she said.
UNICEF supplies the packages to hospitals and health facilities across, but, according to Galvin, the agency is “facing a funding shortage and are unable to buy the RUTF that we need to treat the 875,000 SAM cases that we’re expecting in 2023,” said Galvin.
We have an urgent funding gap of $21 million, she said.
“With those funds, we need to fill the RUTF gap. We will also use it to train nutrition counselors, community health workers, nutrition nurses and doctors so that they can identify and treat these severely, acutely malnourished children. And we will also be able to scale up in dense urban environments that are underserved at this time,” she said.
Severe acute malnutrition can be a death sentence, but it doesn’t have to be. With the right resources, we can stop it, she added.
Health
UNICEF issues emergency tender to secure mpox vaccines
Depending on the production capacity of manufacturers, agreements for up to 12 million doses through 2025 can be made, according to the statement.
![](https://www.ariananews.af/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/UNICEF.jpg)
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has issued an emergency tender to secure mpox vaccines for crisis-hit countries in collaboration with the Gavi vaccine alliance, Africa CDC and the World Health Organization, the organizations said in a joint statement on Saturday.
Depending on the production capacity of manufacturers, agreements for up to 12 million doses through 2025 can be made, according to the statement.
Under the tender, UNICEF will set up conditional supply agreements with vaccine manufacturers, the statement said.
This will enable UNICEF to purchase and ship vaccines without delay, once financing, demand, readiness and regulatory requirements are confirmed, Reuters reported.
The collaboration – which would also include working with the Vaccine Alliance and the Pan American Health Organization as well as with Gavi, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and WHO – would facilitate donations of vaccines from existing stockpiles in high-income countries.
The statement added that WHO is reviewing information submitted by manufacturers on Aug. 23, and expects to complete a review for an emergency use listing by mid-September.
The agency is reviewing applications for emergency licences for two vaccines made by Bavarian Nordic (BAVA.CO), opens new tab and Japan’s KM Biologics, read the report.
Earlier in August, the WHO declared mpox a global public health emergency following an outbreak of the viral infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo that spread to neighbouring countries.
More than 18,000 suspected cases of mpox have been reported in Congo so far this year with 629 deaths, while over 150 cases have been confirmed in Burundi, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Sweden and Thailand have confirmed cases of the clade Ib type of the virus, outside of the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring countries.
Health
Ministry of Health says no reports in Afghanistan of monkey pox
So far, cases of monkeypox have been recorded in Pakistan, Sweden and Africa.
![](https://www.ariananews.af/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Monkypox-1.jpg)
The Ministry of Public Health has announced that no suspected or positive cases of monkey pox have been registered in Afghanistan.
After receiving reports about two suspected cases of monkey pox in Kabul and Paktia, officials say that no suspected or positive cases of this disease have been registered in Afghanistan.
Sharaf Zaman Amarkhel, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, said on Tuesday that the ministry will announce it if there is a suspected or positive case of monkeypox.
Earlier, a number of media, citing health sources, reported that two suspected cases of monkey pox were detected in Kabul and Paktia.
The officials of the Ministry of Public Health announced nearly a week ago that they are trying to prevent the spread of the disease.
So far, cases of monkeypox have been recorded in Pakistan, Sweden and Africa.
The World Health Organization recently declared the outbreak of monkey pox a health emergency and said that the new strain of this virus is spreading.
Health
IEA forms technical committee to combat mpox threat
The Deputy Minister of Public Health appointed the teams to work together on the preparation of the list of duties and the definition of mpox, and present it for approval in the next week’s meeting.
![](https://www.ariananews.af/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/health.jpg)
The Ministry of Public Health on Thursday announced that the technical committee to fight and prevent mpox virus met under the leadership of deputy minister for health services, Abdul Wali Haqqani.
Directors of the Ministry of Public Health, and representatives of World Health Organization (WHO), the UN agency for children UNICEF, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) were also present at the meeting.
According to the Ministry of Public Health’s statement, the participants of the meeting discussed and exchanged views on the preparation of the list of duties for the technical team, the definition of mpox, and the necessary measures to prevent the virus in the country.
The Deputy Minister of Public Health appointed the teams to work together on the preparation of the list of duties and the definition of mpox, and present it for approval in the next week’s meeting.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has already declared a global health emergency in response to the widening mpox outbreak. The virus, which can be fatal in some cases, is known to spread through close contact and is particularly concerning given its potential to escalate into a pandemic.
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