PHM-Exch> Idia: Unicef hands out therapeutic foods bypassing State

[Erick Otieno Owuor]

Dear C Shivakumar,

I am writing to comment, just a little on your email below.

Necessity knows no law! In law, therapeutic food should be meant to help save lives. If the food did save any life, then we must all acknowledge UNICEF for such a kind gesture for a necessary situation. If it did led to any harm on human or animal health thereof, then the act must be condemned!

India being a sovereign state, the laws of Indian land must be respected by humanitarian agencies, UNICEF included. UNICEF should remember next time to seek legal permission from the authority.

I underscore, however, that the legal principles of "damage without injury or injury without damage" be considered as well.

Regards.

Erick Otieno Owuor,

Executive Coordinator,

Kamukunji Paralegal Trust (KAPLET)

P.O. Box 9163-00200,

City Square, Nairobi,

Republic of Kenya.

Telephone (Mobile phone) +254 722 361 017

Email: ericotienoss at yahoo.com 



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C Shivakumar

CHENNAI: UNICEF did not seek the approval of the Government of India before it procured and distributed ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF) in certain cases, an RTI reply has revealed.

The world body had procured emergency supplies worth $2.4 million, of which the RUTF stock was supplied in parts of India late last year without official permission, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development said in response to an application filed under the Right to Information Act.

UNICEF has denied the charge.
The
response to the RTI said Unicef imported RUTF and distributed it in
“some of the states without any knowledge or approval of the ministry”.
What’s more, the Centre has noticed it isn’t a one-off. In a separate memo, to which Express gained access, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
stated it has also noticed that “activities by the international
agencies are being carried out within the domain of reproductive child
health without any prior intimation/discussion/approval of the
Government of India.” Unicef, it added, organised a weeklong activity
in November last year on RUTF in Pune and invited two foreign experts.
“The RUTF is Plumpynut (a high-protein, peanut-based paste) from France
costing USD $60 per child. RUTF are not an accepted strategy of the
government of India, neither under reproductive child health nor under
ICDS.” But Unicef ’s communication specialist Thomas George said the
agency’s officials did have the requisite permission. “The RUTF was
used in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar after discussions and deliberations with the state governments,” he maintained.

The RUTF was despatched after a Bihar government official, in last
September, sought relief for four flood-hit districts of the state, he
added.

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