Foyle MP Mark Durkan with Aminata Koroma from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in Sierra Leone showcasing a new report on acute malnutrition.
The people of Derry have been called on to support a petition aimed at ending the death of children from hunger.
The call has come SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan who supported the launch of a new global campaign at Westminster which reveals that the one million children who needlessly die every year from acute malnutrition could be ended in a generation.
The “Generation Nutrition” campaign (launched by a coalition of leading international development organisations) shines a spotlight on the plight of the 52 million children in the world suffering from acute malnutrition – one in 12 children globally.
The launch of the accompanying report for the new global campaign also provides detailed analysis, for the first time, on the fact that acute malnutrition does not only occur in humanitarian crises, but is most common in stable countries like India, Kenya and Indonesia.
Campaigners say this demonstrates the need for acute malnutrition to be recognised as an ‘everyday emergency’ with resources targeted at addressing the condition at a community level.
Mr Durkan said: “I am delighted to support this important campaign which is calling on world leaders to agree on a new global target to bring down the numbers of children who suffer from acute malnutrition. ‘Every child is our child’ is a moral imperative that should unite us all in a working ethic.
“That so many children continue to suffer from acute malnutrition is the compelling scandal of our age. Indeed, a global order that was galvanised into action for the international banking system, has failed to marshall the priority or purpose to tackle the systemic deprivation of so many of the world’s children.
“I would also encourage people in Derry and throughout the North to sign up to the ‘Generation Nutrition’ petition (at www.generation-nutrition.org) which aims to ensure that the post-2015 development framework which replaces the Millennium Development Goals prioritises ending child deaths from hunger.”
Mr Durkan concluded: “Campaigners will present the petition to world leaders at a meeting of the United Nations in September.”
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