Stelios Philanthropic Foundation donates £640,000 to UNICEF to help treat malnourished children in Gaza
Measuring the circumference of the child's arm is a simple way to identify those who are malnourished / Photo courtesy of UNICEF
The Stelios Foundation has already been running the Food From The Heart programme in Greece and Cyprus for the last decade, providing food to tens of thousands of people every month. Now it is also turning its attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s Foundation has just donated £640,000 to UNICEF’s emergency response in Gaza, with the aim of providing 15,000 malnourished children there with Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) for one month.
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The donation has been routed through UNICEF’s UK committee whose Chief Executive, Jon Sparkes, explains: “Compared to adults, children are especially vulnerable to the devastating impacts of wars. UNICEF continues to work around the clock to focus on the critical needs of children for protection and humanitarian assistance. The Stelios Philanthropic Foundation’s donation today, comes at a time when almost 8,000 children under 2 years of age in Gaza are acutely malnourished, and provides crucial funding to UNICEF’s response to help treat 15,000 children from malnutrition.”
UNICEF reports that “the escalation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip is having a catastrophic impact on children and families. Children are dying at an alarming rate – more than 14,000 are reported to have been killed in this current conflict and thousands more have been injured. Around 1.7 million people in the Gaza Strip are estimated to have been internally displaced – half of them children. They do not have enough access to water, food, fuel and medicine. Many children have been displaced multiple times and have lost homes, parents and loved ones.”
Malnourished through no fault of their own
Monaco resident Sir Stelios said: “When we started discussing with UNICEF how we could provide support in Gaza… I was immediately struck by the connection between their programmes for helping malnourished children in war-torn areas all over the world and our own programme in Greece and Cyprus for helping anyone who comes to our distribution centres asking for food. Basically, we are both providing nutrition to help people in very vulnerable circumstances. UNICEF uses simple, well-established methods to detect malnutrition in children by measuring the circumference of their upper arm, and then if they are found to be suffering from acute malnutrition these children are prescribed a course of these specially designed sachets of life-saving therapeutic food until they get better.”
He added, “I am pleased my donation is able to help treat 15,000 children for one month who are malnourished through no fault of their own.”
The Foundation is a UK-registered charity set up and funded by Sir Stelios, the creator and owner of the easy family of brands. easyGroup Ltd has donated over €84,000,000 to his charitable foundation.
UNICEF is the United Nations Children’s Fund, working in the world’s toughest places to reach the most disadvantaged children and adolescents – and to protect the rights of every child, everywhere. Donations can be made by clicking on the DONATE button on their website.