VZCZCXYZ0020
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLP #3071/01 3191804
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151804Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY LA PAZ
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1290
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 6282
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 3603
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 7464
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 4725
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1975
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 2036
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 4171
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 4614
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 9196
RUEHC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS LA PAZ 003071 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/AND LPETRONI 
USAID/LAC/AA FOR AFRANCO AND MSILVERMAN 
USAID/LAC/SA FOR JBAKKEN 
USAID/DCHA/FFP FOR WHAMMINK AND JDWORKEN 
USAID/DCHA/FFP/DP FOR JMAJERNIK, MNIMS, AND BBURNETT 
COMMERCE FOR JANGLIN 
TREASURY FOR SGOOCH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID EAGR ECON PREL PGOV BL
SUBJECT: BOLIVIA'S TITLE II ASSISTANCE HELPS SLASH 
CHILDHOOD MALNUTRITION 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (U) Tens of thousands of Bolivian children, many in 
isolated rural areas, suffer from chronic malnutrition.  Many 
simply lack appropriate food, while others suffer from 
parasites and infectious diseases that hamper the body's 
ability to retain nutrients.  With PL 480 Title II support, 
administered through USAID, four non-governmental 
organizations are fighting the problem - with remarkable 
results.  In the next few months, we will work to overcome a 
frustrating lack of media attention and increase our efforts 
to publicize the positive impact of Title II assistance. 
 
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BACKGROUND 
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¶2. (U) A recent World Food Program/GOB survey of 166 
municipalities in Bolivia's nine departments indicated that 
40 percent of children under five suffer from chronic 
malnutrition.  Many simply lack appropriate food, often 
consuming too many carbohydrates and too few vitamins and 
minerals, while others suffer from parasites and infectious 
diseases that hamper the body's ability to retain nutrients. 
Of the more than 4,500 households surveyed, 63 percent fell 
short of recommended daily calorie intakes.  The consequences 
of chronic malnutrition, according to child health 
specialists, include slowed growth, diminished learning 
capacity, and low future labor productivity.  All of this has 
negative implications for children's potential to become 
healthy, productive adults. 
 
¶3. (U) With support from the PL 480 Title II Food for Peace 
program, administered through USAID, four non-governmental 
organizations are fighting the problem.  The organizations' 
food security programs share an emphasis not just on health 
and nutrition, but also on income generation and natural 
resource management; each is marked by variations according 
to the organization's unique approach to aid. 
 
¶4. (U) All four organizations use food aid to improve food 
access and utilization in Bolivia's most food insecure areas, 
directly supplementing the diets of young children and 
pregnant women and operating food for work programs, which 
provide food to vulnerable families in exchange for 
participation in local infrastructure projects.  The four 
organizations also monetize donated commodities, using the 
proceeds to support basic health services, nutrition 
education, and agricultural extension, training, and capacity 
building programs.  Together, the four have achieved 
remarkable results, assisting tens of thousands of families 
in hundreds of communities across Bolivia and significantly 
reducing childhood malnutrition. 
 
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PROGRAMS AND RESULTS 
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¶5. (U) Active in Bolivia since the mid-1980s, Save the 
Children today works in seven municipalities in the 
department of La Paz, focusing its food security strategy on 
196 critical risk communities.  Food Security Advisor 
Margarita Clark noted October 26 that an estimated 50,000 
people have benefited from the organization's health and 
nutrition, income generation, and natural resource management 
programs, with 3,500 children under three participating in 
the organization's growth monitoring and promotion programs. 
The latter encourage mothers to weigh children monthly and 
help parents take corrective action if children fail to meet 
 
minimum adequate weight gain standards; the programs employ 
volunteer monitors, nutritionists, and health promoters to 
educate and advise parents on improved hygienic practices, 
proper nutrition, and effective disease prevention.  By June 
2006, five years after program initiation, Save the Children 
had reduced chronic malnutrition among children under five 
from 38.3 to 32.7 percent. 
 
¶6. (U) CARE Bolivia has had similar results in its two and a 
half years of work, cutting chronic malnutrition among 
children under three from 43.3 to 33.6 percent and lowering 
chronic malnutrition among children ages three to five from 
51 to 41.4 percent.  The organization works in 217 high-risk 
communities in several municipalities in the departments of 
Potosi, Tarija, and Chuquisaca, emulating Save the Children's 
growth monitoring and promotion programs and simultaneously 
working to improve access to potable water and sanitation; 
like Save the Children, CARE Bolivia has constructed water 
collection and distribution systems and built latrines and 
showers in several communities, thereby helping to reduce the 
spread of water-borne illnesses and significantly improving 
community health.  Also like Save the Children, the 
organization often supports construction through Title II 
food for work programs, an important means of completing 
large-scale infrastructure projects. 
 
¶7. (U) Another organization, the Adventist Development and 
Relief Agency (ADRA), is active in four critical risk 
municipalities in the department of Chuquisaca, distributing 
food aid (including flour, corn-soy blend, vegetable oil, 
lentils, and other products) to approximately 3,000 families 
per month; mothers use the provisions to ensure children 
achieve minimum adequate weight gains every month, as in 
counterparts' growth promotion programs.  According to ADRA 
Acting Country Director Guillermo Lizarraga, this is only one 
component of the organization's three-pronged food security 
strategy, which includes income generation and natural 
resource management programs to ensure communities have a 
sustainable means of raising living standards.  Thanks in 
part to ADRA technical assistance, an estimated 2,200 farmers 
in 78 communities today export sweet onions, beans, and other 
non-traditional crops to Europe and Japan, frequently 
altering the mix of goods to respond to consumers' changing 
preferences.  Farmers have adopted new agricultural and 
irrigation practices, and entire communities have benefited 
from resource management and land use plans designed to 
improve soil fertility, prevent erosion, and conserve water 
resources. 
 
¶8. (U) Food for the Hungry International (FHI) has introduced 
similar practices in four high-risk municipalities in the 
departments of Cochabamba and Potosi, in many cases providing 
new seeds and technologies, expanding and improving 
irrigation systems, and assisting communities with 
environmental management plans.  Efforts to enhance crop 
production, improve roads, and expand access to potable water 
and sanitation systems have complemented the organization's 
health and nutrition programs, which, like those of its 
counterparts, focus on reducing childhood malnutrition 
through growth promotion programs.  In the last five years, 
FHI has slashed chronic malnutrition among children under 
five from 59 to 38 percent, assisting an estimated 3,400 
children and encouraging long-term participation in community 
health programs. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶9. (U) The Title II program aspires to be a comprehensive 
development program, with food and local resources supporting 
 
municipal, community, and individual efforts to enhance 
household food security, overcome development constraints, 
and achieve sustainable improvements in real income. 
Although food rations are distributed to vulnerable 
households through maternal and child health and nutrition 
programs, food resources are used primarily in conjunction 
with training and technical assistance activities that help 
build a foundation for sustainable development. 
 
¶10. (U) Title II assistance has had a remarkable impact on 
the lives of hundreds of thousands of Bolivians, not only 
through health and nutrition programs, but also through 
income generation and natural resource management programs; 
today, children and their families are better nourished, 
former subsistence farmers are players in international 
markets, and communities are increasingly capable of raising 
their standards of living.  The organizations' work has 
generated tangible, real results, and many have benefited. 
 
¶11. (U) Despite its incredible success, the Title II program 
has received frustratingly little media attention.  Maternal 
and child health and nutrition programs, along with efforts 
to boost rural incomes and improve access to water and 
sanitation, represent a key means of demonstrating USG 
interest in the health and well being of Bolivia's people; in 
the next few months, we will increase our efforts to 
publicize the positive impact of this assistance. 
GOLDBERG