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(2004/C 88 E/0313)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3906/02

by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission

(7 January 2003)

Subject:   Problem of malnutrition in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank

The latest available UN data show that there is a serious problem of malnutrition in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The Palestinians are mainly suffering from micronutrition deficiency — what the World Health Organisation refers to as ‘hidden starvation’. Micronutrition deficiency deprives children of proper development, damages their cognitive faculties often severely and immutably, depresses the immune system of both children and adults and weakens mental and physical powers. In exceptional cases, it may even cause blindness and death. At the same time, research carried out by the United States Agency for International Development reveals that four out of five children in Gaza and the West Bank suffer from iron and zinc deficiency and over 50 % of children show signs of carbohydrate and vitamin A deficiency.

In what way does the Commission allocate EU financial aid to Palestine to help deal directly with this situation?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(29 January 2003)

The Commission recently decided to allocate EUR 10 million in support to the World Food Programme (WFP) Emergency Operation Plan (EMOP) n. 10190 through its Food Security Budget Line in order to address the needs of the victims of conflict in the Palestinian Territories (PT). Target beneficiaries are some 360 000 vulnerable and destitute people from among the non-refugee Palestinian population. These include children under five, pregnant women and lactating mothers, the elderly, handicapped and chronically ill. These people were eligible for welfare assistance (cash and in kind) provided by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs, a programme that had to be discontinued due to the present crisis situation.

The products that will be made available through the Commission funds are wheat flour, rice, lentils, sugar, vegetable oil and olive oil. In order to ensure flexibility and a swift mobilisation according to the WFP plans, these commodities will be procured and mobilised partly by the Commission from Member States and partly directly by WFP from the Palestinian Territories and neighbouring countries.

In the framework of the WFP EMOP n. 10072 that terminated in August 2002, the Commission had also made available EUR 5 million for the purchase of some 7 400 metric tonnes of wheat flour and 3 200 metric tonnes of rice for the benefit of a similar caseload.

By so doing, the Commission has been by far the biggest contributor to these two programmes (a table with contributions to the Palestinian territory is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat).

Since the mid nineties, the Commission has been financing every year a food aid and cash assistance programme in favour of the vulnerable Palestine refugee population. This envelope stood at EUR 15 million in 2002. The programme is run by UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agencies) and covers five operation areas, namely Jordan, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The programme provides assistance to some 224 000 Special Hardship Cases, including 105 000 pregnant and lactating women and their children, 500 Tuberculosis outpatients, families headed by widows, orphans, elderly, medically unfit to work, etc. The beneficiaries assisted by this programme in the Palestinian territories are 73 000 people in Gaza Strip and 31 000 in the West Bank. A recent evaluation study carried out on the programme emphasised the relevance of the nutrition and supplementary feeding programme components. These allow providing dry rations to women beginning in the fifth month of pregnancy until one year after delivery, and iron supplementation to pre-school children and women of reproductive age at Maternal & Child Health clinics.

In order to update the available data on food security, the Commission, in close collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), WFP and UNRWA, as well as United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and its partners is in the process of finalising terms of reference for a comprehensive food security assessment that will cover urban and rural areas, as well as refugee and non-refugee populations living in the Palestinian Territories. The mission will study and analyse the issues related to food availability and food access in the Palestinian Territories and provide recommendations to the Palestinian Authority for better co-ordinating the efforts put in place by the international community to tackle the food insecurity situation. The mission is expected to be launched at the beginning of 2003. It will be composed by a Senior Team of FAO and National Experts.

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