[BAGHDAD / GENEVA / NEW YORK, 14 May 2003] - Two months after the start of the Iraq war, UNICEF has called for urgent action to halt what it believes is the plummeting nutritional status of Iraqi children. UNICEF today released troubling findings from a rapid nutrition assessment undertaken in Baghdad, which has found that acute malnutrition rates in children under five have nearly doubled since a previous survey in February 2002. "We can assume that the situation is as bad if not much worse in other urban centres throughout Iraq," said the UNICEF Representative in Iraq, Carel De Rooy. "We knew going into the war that Iraqi children were poorly nourished. These findings make clear that not enough is being done to turn the situation around. Instead it has gotten worse." The UNICEF rapid nutrition assessment was confined to Baghdad because of general insecurity throughout the country. Nevertheless, it shows that 7.7 per cent of children under age five are suffering from acute malnutrition, compared with last year's figure of 4 per cent. Acute malnutrition signifies that a child is actually wasting away. [source: UNICEF. For the full story, visit: http://www.unicef.org/newsline/2003/03pr34iraq.htm]