Madam, – The swine flu pandemic that swept the globe in 2009 showed that the world can respond quickly to a global health threat, even in the midst of a worldwide recession. Why can't the same political will be mustered for childhood malnutrition which, although easily preventable and treatable, kills a child every six seconds? Right now, international funding for malnutrition comes to €250 million (less than it cost to produce the Avatarfilm), less than one 30th of what is needed.
Inadequate funds to fight malnutrition and other neglected diseases were among the top 10 worst crises of 2009 as witnessed by emergency medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Every year since 1998, this “top 10” list is drawn from MSF’s activities in close to 70 countries, where our medical teams witnessed some of the worst humanitarian conditions.
Themes in 2009 include governments blocking aid organisations from delivering live-saving assistance in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Sudan, and failure to guarantee safety for civilians in Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia. The unrelenting violence stalking people in the Democratic Republic of Congo has appeared on the list every year this entire decade, yet many do not know that a war has been raging there for 15 years.
The people caught up in these crises deserve to be remembered and often ask us to tell their stories to the outside world. Greater media exposure is a step forward in harnessing political commitment to get aid to the people who need it most. – Yours, etc,