MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Malnutrition kills 206 children in six months in Argentine province

Governor Maurice Closs says that another 6.000 children are in peril

A total of 206 children have died this year of malnutrition in the northern Argentina province of Misiones (bordering with Paraguay and Brazil), revealed Monday Governor Maurice Closs.

“Ours is a very poor province, with structural poverty. So far this year 206 children have died of malnutrition”, admitted Governor Closs interviewed by a channel from Buenos Aires.

Misiones with a sub-tropical climate and a million inhabitants has an infant mortality rate of 12.3 per thousand, “but in the nineties it was 33 per thousand”, underlined the governor.

Misiones authorities have launched a “Zero hunger” program which distributes a basket of basic food products among poor families of the province.

However the malnutrition news became national headlines when a 15 month old baby, in spite of support from the Zero Hunger program had to be hospitalized where she died and was diagnosed malnutrition.

“With the family allowance program (a federal government subsidy per child) we have been able to help 130.000 children. But we still have 6.000 cases of malnutrition”, admitted governor Closs whose province lives from agriculture and tourism.

The official infant death rate in Argentina is 13.8 per thousand.

The poverty rate in Argentina according to the country’s much questioned Statistics Institute, Indec stood at 12% during the first half of the year, which is lower than the 13.9% of Jan-June 2009.