联合国：非洲之角儿童极度营养不良

The U.N. Children's Fund says drought-stricken areas of the Horn of Africa are afflicted by record high levels of malnutrition among children. The aid agency says tens of thousands of drought victims are fleeing to parts of Kenya and Ethiopia where they hope to find food.

联合国儿童基金会表示，非洲之角遭受干旱，当地儿童严重营养不良。这个机构说，数万受灾民众正逃往肯尼亚和埃塞俄比亚的一些地方，他们希望在那里找到食物。

The numbers are extremely alarming. The U.N. Children’s Fund estimates 480,000 children in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia will be severely malnourished this year. This is a 50 percent increase over last year’s figure.

营养不良的人数触目惊心。联合国儿童基金会估计，今年在索马里、肯尼亚和埃塞俄比亚将有48万儿童出现严重的营养不良。这个数字比去年增加了百分之50。

UNICEF finds the worst affected children are in southern Somalia, where at least one in three children is severely malnourished. UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado says humanitarian conditions there are the worst in a decade.

联合国儿童基金会发现，儿童营养不良最严重的地区是索马里南部，那里每3名儿童中至少就有1人严重营养不良。联合国儿童基金会女发言人梅尔卡多表示，那个地区的人道主义状况是10年来最为严峻的。

“Right now 2.85 million people, or one in three Somalis, is in crisis. That means lacking safe water and sanitation, health services, vulnerable to illness and at risk due to the conflict. In drought-affected areas of Kenya, monthly admissions for treatment of severe malnutrition are 78 percent higher than last year. In the Turkana district, that is up in the northeast, global acute malnutrition rates are the highest ever recorded in the district, at 37.4 percent,” Mercado said.

她说：“目前有285万索马里人，也就是说，三分之一的索马里人处于危机之中。他们缺乏安全的饮用水、卫生设施、医疗服务，非常容易感染疾病，由于冲突而处境危险。在肯尼亚遭受干旱影响的地区，每月因为严重营养不良而接受治疗的人数比去年高出了百分之78。在肯尼亚东北部的图尔卡纳地区，严重营养不良者的比例高达百分之37点4，是这个地区有史以来最高的。”

The United Nations reports more than 10 million people in the Horn of Africa are affected by the most severe drought to strike the region over the past 60 years. Two consecutive years or poor rain has resulted in crop failure and the death of up to 30 percent of livestock.

联合国报告说，在非洲之角地区有1千多万人受到60年来最严重干旱的影响。连续两年的干旱，或者雨水不足导致作物歉收，多达百分之30的牲畜死亡。