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Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Amber alert: Another Missing Headline 
All units, all units: Countercolumn is issuing another Missing Headline Alert.

The headline, "Iraq Child Malnutrition Rates Cut by Two Thirds" has been abducted from the masthead of the British Broadcasting Service, and replaced with the misleading headline, "Children 'Starving' in New Iraq"

From today's BBC:
Increasing numbers of children in Iraq do not have enough food to eat and more than a quarter are chronically undernourished, a UN report says.
Malnutrition rates in children under five have almost doubled since the US-led intervention - to nearly 8% by the end of last year, it says.


In addition to the headline, several important and relevant facts were also reported missing from the story.

Among them was the 2000 report of a congressional Democrat and head of the Congressional Hunger Center:


But Rep. Tony Hall, D-Ohio, says Saddam Hussein's government must share the blame for not getting enough humanitarian aid to Iraqis suffering from malnutrition and disease.

Hall, who spent last week examining hospitals, schools, pharmacies and other facilities that serve Iraqi civilians, said he could verify reports estimating that more than 25 percent of Iraq's children are underweight and one-tenth are suffering from hunger and disease.


Second among the reported missing facts was a prewar United Nations report, cited by PeaceAction.org and countless other sites, which found that 25 percent of Iraqi children were malnourished during the final years of Saddam Hussein.

Investigators for Countercolumn have confirmed that the 8 percent malnutrition rate reported by the United Nations under the coalition government is less than one third of the 25 percent figure cited by UNICEF prior to the war, and taken as gospel by numerous progressive organizations calling for the lifting of the UN sanctions.

Investigators have ruled out charging BBC reporters and editors as well as United Nations diplomats with any crime, since anybody who's too stupid to figure out that today's 8 percent malnutrition rate is not double 25 percent malnutrition, as the BBC lede reports, cannot be held responsible for their actions as if they were, you know, sentient adults.

Splash, out,

Jason

Comments:
I'm no big fan of the BBC and the liberal MSM makes me sick, but I think you're the one who has made an error. Assuming that all the numbers cited are true - and that is debatable - the BBC article does not misrepresent the story. The article states " more than a quarter are chronically undernourished...Malnutrition rates in children under five have almost doubled since the US-led intervention - to nearly 8%..."

So the total rate of malnourished children is 25% and the rate for children under 5 is 8%.
You then quote PeaceAction.org saying that the rate was 25% before the war. That number is not qualified by age. How is that 25% different than the quarter who are "chronically undernourished"? The only new information that the article presents is the fact that the rate for children under 5 has doubled.
 
splash steps to the plate...gone.
 
Yohaas, what makes you think that "chronically undernourished" and "malnourished" are interchangeable?

And do you really think that this could possibly be so given the "nearly 8 percent" under 5 and the "more than 25 %" total figures cited? Do you really think that there was such a massive jump from the under 5's to the total group?
 
Here is some interesting background on the UN official behind the report the BBC is reporting on:

http://www.unwatch.org/pbworks/blind_to_burundi.pdf

And another page which quotes various idiocies by Ziegler, includes this:

"I personally condemn the Security Council’s approval of the embargo on Iraq, which has had a tragic effect on the Iraqi people. They have suffered from hunger and disease; this embargo is indefensible."

http://www.siyassa.org.eg/esiyassa/AHRAM/2003/1/1/INTE1.HTM
 
And more background on the author of the UN report:

"One of Switzerland’s main dailies, Le Matin, recently quoted him as saying that the dictatorship of world capitalistic finance was responsible for a steady increase in the number of people who have died of hunger since the beginning of globalization in 1996. In fact, he’s put a number on it: 100,000 people are killed every day by capitalism, he said. It is worth noting that in his capacity as an expert on world hunger, he characterised famine as a “genocide” as well as a “crime against humanity”, with the implicit suggestion that the American government was guilty for these crimes."

http://innocentsabroad.blogspot.com/2002_08_04_innocentsabroad_archive.html
 
I recall that, around 2000, several pro-Saddam groups were claiming the sanctions were killing 5,000-10,000 Iraqis a month, about half of them infants, for lack of food and medicine.

And here’s some other Iraq health information provided in December 2002 by two anti-liberation groups from Canada, Physicians for Global Survival and Medecins du Monde:

"The comprehensive sanctions imposed on Iraq, described by some experts "as a weapon of mass destruction" continue to undermine all efforts at human and material development and is compounded even further by frequent bombings in the US-UK imposed "no fly zones", north and south…."

"Preventable conditions are still common, due to a combination of marginal nutrition and poor water/sanitation. Diarrhea, typhoid fever, hepatitis, influenza and TB are common and chronic conditions such as mental illness, heart disease and cancer are increasing. …

"Health status (see indicators below) has improved in some cases since the Oil For Food Program of the UN increased its supplies of commodities and medicines in 2000 and immunization programs have been strengthened. Yet child health particularly remains precarious, with 24% low birth weight (under 2500 grams). The UN Report of 2002 indicates over 20% malnutrition - a reduction in malnutrition under age 5 between 2000 and 2002 surveys. There is still a shortfall of 10-15% in calories and protein in the average Iraqi allocation…."

"Further data include (WHO Report - 2002)
* 24% low birth weight, a reflection of maternal nutrition and general health, continues to be four times higher than before the Gulf War maln.
* 17% of mothers exclusively breastfed their babies under 4 months of age.
* Under five-year mortality has increased over 160% compared to 1989 (UNICEF report on the Situation of Children;2002), due to malnutrition and exposure to contaminated water and food and, in urban areas, severe air pollution.
* Fully immunized infants - Polio - 82% (last polio case identified in 2000); DPT - 74%; HBV - 64%. This has resulted in better control of some communicable diseases. Measles and DPT shortages continue due to approval and delivery problems, setting the stage for new outbreaks of disease.
* 71% of pregnant women were attended by trained personnel. .
* 294 deaths/100,000 live births maternal mortality (three times higher than 1990), due to maternal malnutrition, iron deficiency, unaffordable or inaccessible care, and inadequate emergency and health care services.
* 70% of water exceeds safe turbidity limits at 10 NTU (UNICEF 2002).
* Mental illness due to stressful living conditions, early childhood trauma, frustration at the lack of meaningful learning and recreation, and fear of war (no data available)."

* * *

Now, have all of these health problems worsened since Saddam was toppled?
 
"Chronic malnourishment" is reflected in stunting (height for age) or developmental deficiencies attributable to nutritional problems over time. While one can apply it to under-5s, it's much more commonly observed and considered meaningful with older children. "Acute" malnourishment, as the name implies, is the one directly tied to increased mortality rates for any given cohort of a population, and its symptoms are completely different. The language and numbers here, admittedly at a quick glance, are not just confusing, but rather incoherent in terms of the nutritional aspects of public health data.

I'm in Baghdad but my duties here have nothing to do with public health or nutrition. However, my last gig was 5 years doing food aid for refugees and populations in war-affected collapsed economies, and I'm very skeptical of all these malnutrition numbers. Children's health problems here are far more likely related to water-borne diseases than to availability of adequate food. The food ration system in place from the sanctions period continues to operate, though assessing effectiveness is very difficult across the various regions and cities.

There are many layers to the onion, to include, inter alia, (1)pre-existing developmental/public health/hygiene problems not addressed by Iraq's development spurt in the late 70s and 80s, which was interrupted by Saddam's series of aggressive wars and their consequences; (2) the maladministration -- trashing -- of the country and its populace by the Iraqi regime during the sanctions period; (3) everything that's happened during and since the US invasion. Of the negative things in the last category, of course, former regime elements and their jihadi allies are responsible for the great bulk, and indigenous corruption, theft, and incompetence account for a lot more -- so even most of the "post-war" piece is not really the doing of the invading power.

One of the new government's first big challenges will be to initially monetize, then eliminate, the food ration here.
 
Relevant links...
Ziegler's report:
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/docs/61chr/E.CN.4.2005.47.doc

List of other documents submitted to the conference:
http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/sessions/61/lisdocs.htm

UNICEF on Iraqi malnutrition, in 2002:
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/02pr63iraq.htm

UNICEF on Iraqi malnutrition, in 1997:
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/prgva11.htm
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/97pr60.htm


Rob Hinkley
 
...another critique on thsi same issue/articles here:
http://jerseynut.blogspot.com/2005/03/unholy-reutersun-alliance-of-lies.html
...showing the true source material for this crap
 
The same folks who fell for the corrupt Lancet study seem to be falling for this bit of misinformation. Leftist journalists are gaining a well deserved reputation for stupidity as well as dishonesty.
 
Here is a number to put the figures in perspective. According to posters all over Honolulu put up by the local food bank, 66,000 of Hawaii children supposedly go hungry. That number represents 20% of the children below the age of 20. So basically they are saying it is no worse in Iraq for kids than it is in Hawaii.

I wish everyone was able to realize that these figures thrown around are almost 100% of the time wrong or so corrupted as to not represent the actual truth. And this goes for figures given from both sides of the arguement.
 
For the first time in my life, and against my better judgement, I am going to use Michael Moronic as a source:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=357

"Pedersen (one of the authors of the report)noted ...given the fact that World Food Program has distributed a lot of food, it's quite clear that one could expect some malnutrition, but the level that there is, it's a bit difficult to explain."

So, whereas I would not dismiss the report out of hand, even one of the authors cannot explain the figures.

The Iarqi Nutritional Research Institute is less kind:

"I think the data is suspect, and the figure as such is completely exaggerated," says Khalil Muhsin, director of Iraq's Nutrition Research Institute.

"The Health Ministry says its findings show 4.4% of children 6 months to 5 years old suffer from acute malnutrition. "



http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-12-23-iraq-children_x.htm
 
Hi Yohaas,
The other day I wrote down a post on Ziegler himself and how he was the speaker at antiBush demonstrations in Berlin or at the antigloblalization meetings in Porto Alegre. You can see it (with pictures) at:

http://jorwell.blogspot.com/2005/03/informe-sin-credibilidad.html

My blog is in Spanish. You may want to use a translator or just take a look at the pictures.

I also refer to your post in my blog:
http://jorwell.blogspot.com/2005/04/ms-sobre-la-desnutricin-de-la-infancia.html

Best,
Jordi, Barcelona
 
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