Malnutrition rates in Upper Nile “alarming”

Malnutrition rates in Upper Nile are “alarming”, with people “in dire need of assistance”, the health NGO Medecins sans frontieres (MSF) warned on Thursday. The results of a nutritional survey conducted in June in Padeah District, Western Upper Nile, showed severely malnourished children in a four villages, an MSF press release stated. Overall, the investigation revealed a global malnutrition rate of 23.3 percent and a severe malnutrition rate of 5.2 percent in a district with an estimated population of 40,000 people. Marilyn McHarg, Head of Mission southern Sudan, said there was “an urgent need” to address the general food situation in Padeah, where recent armed conflict had displaced “almost 75 percent of the population”. According to the MSF statement some 95 percent of the population had also reported cattle losses due to conflict. Cattle are the main source of trade and livelihood in the district. There has been virtually no NGO presence in the area since June 1998, and the airstrip urgently needed rehabilitation, the statement added. The area is very isolated, located between the Nile, swamps and major tributaries. MSF said it was “ready to start blanket feeding in Padeah District in response to the malnutrition” but recommended a distribution of “adequate general food rations” before an intensive feeding programme was established.