Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Resistencia (Agenzia Fides) - According to the latest report released by the Ministry of Health of Argentina, one person dies every 10 hours in the country for problems due to malnutrition. Following the recent death from malnutrition of a child in the province of Chaco (see Fides 14/09/2015), the Study and Social Research Center Mandela added that it is not an isolated death, but that there are also other cases due to the malfunctioning in the public health system in the province. The report highlights that despite Argentina is a country with great potential for food production in the world, people die of all ages, although the percentage is higher in people over 75, which corresponds to 70% of deaths. Young people account for 8%.
According to another study, carried out by the Observatory of Social Debt of the Catholic University of Argentina, 2 out of 10 children do not have adequate food. Moreover, half the children without healthy nutrition suffer from severe food insecurity, mainly among families with precarious jobs, living in villages or temporary settlements. The study reveals that 28.7% of the Argentine population is poor. According to INDEC, there are about 1.050.000 people who live in Chaco. In contrast to this study, Isepci (Institute of Social, Economic and Policy Town Research) released a report, always with figures for 2014, in which Resistencia alone recorded a poverty rate of 49.6%. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 15/09/2015)
