Tackling malnutrition in South Sudan – in pictures
24 June 2013
Almost a billion people are affected by hunger, chronic undernourishment and famine worldwide, the vast majority in developing countries. Malnutrition claims the lives of over two million children every year.
In South Sudan, Malaria Consortium is working with local communities and the Ministry of Health to tackle under-nutrition in young children. Our emergency nutrition programme – supported by UKAid from the UK Department for International Development and United Nations agencies – trains and supports community health workers to diagnose and treat malnutrition in the community.
Hong village is in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state in South Sudan. Fewsnet, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, reports that Northern Bar el Ghazal’s food security status is likely to be stressed due to flooding, cattle rustling, the influx of refugees and on-going insecurity in the region. The combination of complex political, economic and environmental factors in this area of South Sudan put children, especially those under the age of five, at risk of becoming malnourished.
Since it became an independent country in 2011, South Sudan continues to have high rates of malnutrition, and severe acute malnutrition, attributed to food security, poor health conditions and sub-optimal maternal and child feeding and care practices
Malaria Consortium is running an Outpatient Therapeutic Feeding Programme (OTP) in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State with 45 OTP sites covering two counties: diagnosing and treating severe acute malnutrition in the community. The nutrition programme is being run alongside integrated community case management for common childhood diseases: malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea. By providing this service in hard-to-reach areas, we are helping to increase access to prompt and effective treatment for these killer diseases
Aknot Aleu Wol has come to the emergency nutrition site seeking care for Akuol Piol Deng, who is 9 months old and displaying signs of severe acute malnutrition. This is a life threatening condition which requires urgent treatment. Community screening and therapeutic feeding programmes such as Malaria Consortium’s OTP in Apada camp help to identify malnourished children in the community and ensure that they receive the treatment they need
Aknot Aleu Wol, right, nurses her infant while she waits for treatment. Mothers and caregivers from the nearby villages gather under the tree, waiting to be seen by the health workers
Simon Deng, a Malaria Consortium community nutrition worker, weighs Aknot Aleu Wol’s son, Akuol Piol Deng. Infants are weighed and measured to help determine their nutritional status
Simon Deng feeds Akuol Piol Deng with Plumpy’Nut, a high-calorie paste used to treat severe acute malnutrition. The mother will be provided with packets of Plumpy’nut for her child, based on the weight of the child, to provide a daily nutritional supplement. She will return to the OTP after a week, where the child’s progress can be monitored
Plumpy’Nut contains peanuts, vegetable oils, sugar, milk powder and a range of essential vitamins and minerals. It is popular because it requires no preparation or refrigeration, has a long shelf life, and can be administered at home without supervision. This has made treatment for malnutrition more effective in rural areas of South Sudan
At another site, a young girl’s arm is measured. This measurement, taken in conjunction with the circumference of her arm, her height and her weight, can be used to determine her nutritional status. The community health workers are trained in how to carry out this process, provided with the tools and supported in carrying out their work
The same child then has her mid-upper arm circumference measured by a health worker. This is an accurate and easy to use measure for determining the nutritional condition of children that community volunteers can be trained to use without difficulty. Her arm was measured at 11 cm, in the red coloured zone, indicating severe acute malnutrition. Children with a mid-upper arm circumference in the red coloured zone, like this girl, are provided with Plumpy’Nut and closely monitored in the coming weeks
Emergency nutrition programmes like this one, implemented at sites based in the community, help to provide critical frontline nutrition services to remote communities in South Sudan. The approach involves training community health workers in how to diagnose severe acute malnutrition - by measuring a child’s height, and the circumference of their mid-upper arm – and treat it on site
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