BAGHDAD, Dec 5 (AFP) - Iraq's interim health minister on Sunday flatly denied a report from the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, that chronic malnutrition in young Iraqi children had almost doubled in the last two years.
"Acute malnutrition has certainly not doubled in this period," Alaadin Alwan said in a statement, adding that other studies showed malnutrition may even have decreased since the 2003 US-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein from power.
The minister said that a study immediately after the March 2003 invasion put malnutrition at around eight percent, while a World Food Survey report based on December 2003 data showed a rate of 4.4 percent.
The minister said the methodology of the UNICEF report "raises serious questions and concerns".
The UNICEF report, published Sunday, warned that the number of young Iraqi children suffering from acute malnutrition has nearly doubled since the 2003 invasion, as health and living conditions have deteriorated.
Almost eight percent of Iraqi children younger than five suffer from chronic diarrhea and protein deficiency, the agency's latest reports said.
Diarrhea, caused mainly by unsafe water and in some areas lack of clean supplies, is responsible for 70 percent of child deaths in Iraq, the agency said.
Water treatment plants, already in poor condition, have suffered more damage since the invasion. In Baghdad alone, around 40 percent of the clean water network was damaged, and water reservoirs contaminated.
Sewage treatment plants no longer work because of problems with the electrical supply, poor maintenance, and damage caused since the invasion, UNICEF said.
12/05/2004 18:21 GMT - AFP