NOMA - The Face of Poverty

The lack of public attention given to noma, the way this remains an anonymous disease can be seen as a result of the lack of data and WHO reports on the disease. The tragic effect is that fundraising and thus a capacity to combat the disease are being compromised by this lack of knowledge concerning this scourge that destroys human lives which could so easily be saved. Money and information are missing in a world where billions of dollars are given in the wink of an eye to huge banks where CEOs are drowning in money.

Let me remind you that over 100 000 people, the vast majority of which are children, die every year because of noma. [4] And all it would take to combat this killer disease is eliminating hunger and malnutrition at a cost that would be a pittance compared to the trillions that are poured into the banks world-wide in the kind of welfare that is showered upon our financial institutions, instead of giving priority to the crying need for action to eliminate hunger, malnutrition and faulty sanitary conditions which are the causes of several perfectly avoidable diseases.

As a gripping demonstration of the priority given to banks before human beings, I repeat a passage from a recent interview with Jean Ziegler on the French information site BASTA!

"On October 12, 2008, the Heads of State of 15 countries that share the Euro, the 27 countries that make up the European Union, got together under the chairmanship of Ms Merkel and Mr Sarkozy at the Elysà ©e Palace in Paris. In 3 hours and 30 minutes, they released 1.7 trillion dollars to improve the European banks' lending capacity and to raise the level of auto-financing for those banks from 3 to 5%. The fact is that the UN has said that eradicating world hunger, eliminating the massacre of hunger, would cost 21 billion dollars over five years, less than one percent of the amount given to the banks." (emphasis added by SON)

Back to Mr. Ziegler's report from the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee.

Noma is not addressed from a human rights perspective, despite being a human rights issue. This report insists on the links between noma and the right to food of the most vulnerable members of society, children living in poverty. Furthermore, the right to water, the right to adequate health care and not least the right to life are at stake. Addressing noma from a right to food perspective has implications for States and their obligations under international human rights law, as well as for international organizations in their response to noma and malnutrition.

Research into the causes and effective prevention and treatment of noma should be seen as a priority in solving the problems of injustice and inequality in today's world. We already know that supplying nutritious food, vitamins plus minerals and vaccinations against the diseases that bring noma in their wake, measles, etc. can cure this disease at an early stage. Also, surgery can achieve miracles in cases where disfigurement has already gone too far to reverse the effects of the disease. It is of course essential to detect the disease at as early a stage as possible. This requires money and information among the populations at high risk.

Noma is killing, disfiguring, and destroying the lives of children. The persistence of noma in today's world raises doubts not only about our morality, but it also comes to prove that the right to food of the children, the most vulnerable members of the international community is being severely violated. Malnutrition is the main predisposing factor of noma; malnutrition is easily treatable. To respect, protect and fulfill the right to food concerning the most vulnerable groups affected or at risk of being affected by the noma disease, the following steps should be taken:

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