Soaring malnutrition among children in Wau

Wau Teaching Hospital reported that more than 600 cases of malnourished children have been diagnosed in the first week of June alone.

Things are getting worse everyday.

Khamisa Ayub, a health nutrition officer in Wau, says more centres have been established in Loko-Loko, Jebel Khair, Bazia Jadid and Hai Dinka where hundreds of malnourished children are enrolled for nutritional feeding. “Things are getting worse everyday,” she says.

According to Ayub the majority of the new cases of malnourished children are among the internally displaced families who fled violence in Baggari, Beselia, Bazia and Farajallah areas during the SPLA counter insurgence, especially in December 2015 and early 2016 when thousands fled their homes and farms.

“What is happening now is an effect of a political situation - these people are now living in the town and they are not used to this lifestyle,” Ayub explains. She says they urgently need to go back to their villages and cultivate their land to prevent more suffering.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) screen the children for malnutrition and provide them with therapeutic feeds like nut paste used to build up strength in afflicted children. The severe cases are admitted to the children’s ward for medication.

I hope to see the health of my child back again soon.

Lina Anthony Udo, a mother of four, fled the violence three months ago from the Baggari area and her son is among the hundreds diagnosed with malnutrition. “My child was sick and he could not be cured, the doctor advised me to give him food without salt. I have tried that for more than one week and there is no improvement,” she says. “I hope to see the health of my child back again soon.”

According to South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in Wau more than 90,000 people fled to Wau town and many of these are struggling to survive. Officials say organisations like WFP are helping distribute food items and non-food items to internally displaced people in Wau.

But much needs to be done and the clock is ticking. Ater Ali heads the feeding center at Wau Teaching Hospital and describes how he sees at least one hundred malnourished children every week: “The market is expensive and mothers cannot provide for their children who are increasingly falling short of basic nutrition.”