AMERICA/ARGENTINA - Mgr. Lozano denounces: deaths due to child malnutrition in the country

Thursday, 12 February 2015

Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) - The head of the Commission for Social Pastoral of the Episcopal Conference of Argentina, His Exc. Mgr. Jorge Lozano, denounced that "there are situations of child malnutrition in various parts of the country" and accused the government of "manipulating statistics in order not to face reality".
Malnutrition is not a new phenomenon in Argentina, however, in 2013 (according to information gathered by Fides) the diagnosis of "malnutrition" was changed to "underweight". In addition, the number of children excluded from medical control and therefore from official data has increased. In recent days 2 cases of children died from malnutrition in the province of Salta. The health minister said that "it is a real tragedy" and confirmed that 20% of children in the area do not have access to national health service.
The national press accuses the government of keeping quiet because even last year cases of death due to malnutrition were reported but not recognized as such. According to official data, there are about 106 000 children under nutritional control in Salta, and of these about 1,900 are below the normal level.
The note sent to Fides contains an interview with Mgr. Lozano to "El Tribune" newspaper, where the Bishop of the Diocese of Gualeguaychú commented the latest deaths in the province: "This situation sometimes becomes public, but other times remains hidden, or deaths happened due to illness, but they are always deaths linked to poverty or lack of food".
He also highlighted that: "economic growth concentrated in few hands only ends up filling the pockets of a few". Then he added: "Beyond the numbers, child malnutrition is a serious problem, because in some cases leads to death, and in other cases is a tremendous threat to life". (CE) (Agenzia Fides 12/02/2015)


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