Page last updated at 12:49 GMT, Monday, 14 September 2009 13:49 UK
Eyewitness: Guatemala food crisis
Children in eastern areas of the country are suffering from malnutrition
Guatemala has been hit by severe food shortages, with some 54,000 families living in the east of the country facing a critical situation.
President Alvaro Colom last week declared a "state of public calamity" to try to mobilise funding to tackle severe food shortages in the country.
Lida Escobar is a field monitor for the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) in Guatemala. She sent this update on the situation there to BBCMundo.com.
In the eastern city of Jalapa I was astonished by what I saw.
There were many many children with severe malnutrition problems.
We found 22 children with marasmus and kwashiorkor [two nutrient deficiency diseases] in the hospital.
Lida Escobar has visited some of the areas worst affected by the crisis
Kwashiorkor is a type of malnutrition in which the children swell because they retain liquids because of protein deficiency.
Their hair can also become discoloured and they develop some skin lesions.
Marasmus is another form of malnutrition in which the skin barely covers the bones because of a protein and calories deficiency.
The children become very thin, lose hair and can become very irritable.
In Jalapa, the children are not only suffering from malnutrition but they also have to fight other diseases like bronchial pneumonia, gastrointestinal problems and diarrhoea.
They lose their appetites and their bodies don't absorb the nutrients when they eat. As their body defences are low, they get sick very easily.
I also went to Chiquimula, in the town of Jocotan.
I visited two nutritional treatment centres which have been treating children from the indigenous area known as Chorti.
We found eight children recuperating there, most of them with Marasmus and Kwashiorkor.
The crisis has very complex causes.
Some children have developed these conditions because of the lack of food, but some because they have related diseases and are weak.
The mothers say the children have fever and nausea and that, since they are not hungry, they don't give them anything to eat.
The Chorti community have access to medical services through non-governmental organisations contracted to the ministry of health.
To reach them, you have to drive and the walk for two hours through a mountainous area.
In some cases there is help available, but there are problems with education.
We found one girl that was very cold and about to die.
We asked the mother why she hadn't taken her to the centre and she replied that they only take their children to the centre when the local shaman cannot do anything else to help.
In the most vulnerable areas, the WFP helps with a project in which we exchange food for work.
This gives the community an opportunity to work in projects like soil conservation, reforestation, growing vegetable, fertilising and training.
We also provide young children, lactating mothers and pregnant women with Vitaceral, which is a mixture of corn with fortified soy, micronutrients and fortified biscuits.
It's very sad to see the children with marasmus and kwashiorkor.
They just stare into space and it makes you wonder what they are looking at. What is their future? What are they thinking about?
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8254841.stm
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