Help sent for anaemic children

Joan Collins THE non Governmental organisation Apothecaries of Majorca and UNICEF hope this year to confirm for the first time the effectiveness of their programmes for sending medications to Cuba, especially the one for fighting infantile anaemia which, until now, has not been able to be evaluated in spite of the fact that it has been in operation for three years. Yesterday a total of 1'800 kilos of products were sent with the aim of improving the nutrition of Cuban children. These products were sent from the Apotecaris Solidaris warehouse on the Son Castello industrial estate in Palma. Present were the Balearic Minister for Immigration and Cooperation, Encarnacion Pastor, the director general of Cooperation, Magdalena Contesti, the President of Apothecaries of Majorca, Mateu Tous, and their technical director, Juan Alberto Segura, as well at the President of the Balearic branch of UNICEF, Maria Antonia Caimari. The spokeswoman for UNICEF's Committee of Cooperation and Emergencies, Anna Moilanen, said that after eight years, during which the volume of aid had trebled as the programmes developed, both UNICEF and the Apothecaries of Majorca hoped to confirm the results of their efforts through exhaustive evaluations and hoped to see a reduction in the volume of Cuban children who suffer from anaemia. By virtue of the agreement between both organisations and the Cuban Government, all children in a certain age group receive a daily helping of 90 grammes of fruit puree boosted by micronutrient ingredients (ascorbic acid, vitamin C, iron and zinc). This is a third of what the body needs daily in order to avoid anaemia, a problem which affects some 50 percent of children under 11 months and 30 percent of those under three. The organisations buy these products with funds partly donated by the Balearic Government (94'018.21 euros in 2005). They put them in 25 kilo containers which are then sent to Havana thanks to the collaboration of the Air Europa airline. Once there, they are taken to a warehouse and then to five distribution points throughout the country where the micronutrients are mixed with fruit purees made from guavas, mangos and bananas. These are later administered to all children under 36 months (some 430'000).