Widespread malnutrition in Pibor county

Children in Pibor county in the Upper Nile region of southern Sudan are suffering from widespread malnutrition in "a critical emergency situation", Gloria Kusemererwa, a senior nutritionist with Action Against Hunger-USA, told IRIN. With global rates of malnutrition among babies, aged between 6 and 29 months, at over 44 percent, she described the situation as "extremely serious" and "very alarming". Just under 15 percent of them were at risk of dying, she said, with many needing medical attention on top of food as they were suffering from malaria, as well as diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases. The World Health Organisation considers that global malnutrition rates above 15 percent constitute an emergency. In a recent survey of 4,000 children in Lokongole, a district of Pibor county, mothers whose children were under 60 percent weight for height reported having no breast milk to give them, Action Against Hunger reported. While adults were doing better than children in general, their reduced food intake of only one meal per day meant that over 40 percent of them were at risk of becoming malnourished, the NGO said. Food security in the area has been badly hit by a drought, which has lasted for the past two years, affecting both cattle and crops. The mainly pastoralist Murle people, who are heavily dependent on cattle for meat, milk and blood, had lost an estimated 50 percent of their cattle to drought, lack of pasture and diseases, Elisa Cavacece, a technical adviser with the Italian NGO Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI) told IRIN. Despite an abundance of dead cattle, carcasses were being left to rot as people feared the meat might be poisonous. The little milk that was available was also being shared between calves and people, with the calves taking priority. A spokeswoman for the World Food Programme, Anja du Toit, told IRIN that food rations had been distributed to 59,000 people in Pibor country over the last three months, including 20,000 in Lokongole. "Food is just one factor in malnutrition. Providing food is not enough to ensure a good nutritional status," added Robin Lodge, another WFP spokesman. He said it was also necessary to provide clean water and sanitation.