Aid agencies alarmed by high malnutrition rates in Bahr el Ghazal

Humanitarian agencies have expressed alarm over what they describe as the deteriorating food security situation in parts of southern Sudan. They have appealed for urgent donor support to save the lives of thousands of children who are at risk. World Vision International on Tuesday said it had launched two emergency supplementary feeding clinics in Bahr el Ghazal, southern Sudan. The intervention followed a nutrition survey conducted in mid May in Gogrial, one of the seven counties in the province, which found that over 5,000 out of 21,000 children were severely malnourished. The agency has called for urgent funds to start therapeutic feeding clinics for the most vulnerable children. "What we have now will only stretch for a few weeks - the number of children is overwhelming," World Vision's officer on the ground, Ann Njenga, said. The Warrap and Thiet areas of neighbouring Tonj County are suffering similar food shortages and malnutrition, according to World Vision. "Most families have nothing at all. If no intervention is made, they will perish," Njenga said. "With the weak state of most children, any disease can easily kill them. It will be fatal if measles or malaria strikes." A separate nutritional survey carried out by the Irish charity GOAL in Twic County also confirmed the worsening situation. A draft report on the survey has indicated a growing number of admissions at feeding centres, reflecting acute malnutrition rates within the local Dinka community. The draft report attributed the food crisis in the area to a combination of factors, ranging from insecurity to erratic rainfall, resulting in lower crop yields. The recent influxes of IDPs and returnees had also placed considerable pressure on household food consumption, the report said. Reuben Haylett, GOAL's medical coordinator for southern Sudan, told IRIN that his agency wanted to open an additional supplementary feeding centre in the county.