Carel De Rooy told a press conference more than 60 percent of Iraqis received only one food packet a month and this was low in protein.

Launching an appeal for funds to help Iraqi children during the next six months, De Rooy said the food packets were part of the UN "oil for food" aid programme for Iraq.

"Before the war started they would exceptionally receive two food baskets a month but many of them sold the extra food to buy other essentials," he said.

UNICEF criticised the fact that there was substitute for mothers' milk in the food packets with the result that only 30 percent of mothers were breast-feeding their children, making these yet more frail, De Rooy said.

Before the war started, a million Iraqi children under five years of age suffered from chronic malnutrition: UNICEF believes the figure has more than doubled since the conflict began two weeks ago.

SPACE.WIRE