UNICEF - Child malnutrition in South Sudan could double, warns UNICEF
14 Apr 2014 11:11 AM
The youngest citizens of the world’s
newest nation are on the verge of a nutrition crisis and nearly a quarter of a
million children will suffer severe acute malnutrition by the end of the year
if more is not done now, says UNICEF.
Many children in South Sudan already faced emergency
levels of under-nutrition in the two and a half years since independence in
2011. Now the ongoing conflict has pushed them to the edge - unless treatment
is scaled up immediately, up to 50,000 children under the age of five are
likely to die.
Currently, over 3.7 million people, including almost
740,000 children under five, in the country are at high risk of food
insecurity. Many are already resorting to eating so-called “famine
foods”, wild foods such as bulbs and grasses.
“Sadly, worse is yet to come. If conflict
continues, and farmers miss the planting season, we will see child malnutrition
on a scale never before experienced here,” said Jonathan Veitch, UNICEF
Representative in South Sudan. “If we cannot get more funds and better
access to reach malnourished children in South Sudan, tens of thousands of
under-fives will die.”
“These are not mere statistics – they are
the children for whom South Sudan holds so much potential and promise. We must
not fail the children of this new and fragile nation,” said Mr
Veitch.
UNICEF’s immediate goal is to treat more than
150,000 severely malnourished children under five. In part this will occur
through rapid response teams that deliver ready to use therapeutic foods,
micronutrient supplements, medicines, water purification sachets, Vitamin A and
deworming tablets, and support breastfeeding mothers and pregnant women. This
fast and flexible approach is currently being deployed in remote, previously
unreachable areas. However to fully meet nutrition needs in South Sudan, UNICEF
currently needs £22.8 million, of which just £2.7 million has been
received.
Notes to editors:
For
further information, please contact:
Claire Blackburn, claireb@unicef.org.uk, + 44 (0)20 7375 6261
About UNICEF
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