Feeding Program against Malnutrition
At our hospital in South Sudan, we treat many children and infants suffering from malnutrition.
Especially during the rainy season there is hunger and undersupply
The prevailing poverty, the poor supply situation and the resulting hunger lead to underprovisioning, especially among the youngest children. Cap Anamur therefore enrolls severely malnourished children in a monthly feeding program. South Sudan and especially the Nuba Mountains are actually a fertile area. If it were not for the decades of war that have caused people to flee, destroying villages and making profitable agriculture almost impossible. This is because people live in the constant uncertainty of being bombed again.
Therefore, many people have fled to the Nuba Mountains, where the rocky caves offer them refuge. In return, however, they have usually had to leave their homes and land holdings. In the mountains, people can only provide for themselves to a limited extent, and a lack of infrastructure means that the supply of food and clean water is inadequate. The poor supply situation is causing poverty and hunger to rise. Infants, toddlers and children are particularly affected. The proportion of malnourished children is high. During the rainy season, when the previous year’s supplies have been used up and the new harvest cannot yet be harvested, hunger steadily increases. And the weakened children can then hardly counter the emerging malaria infections.
Although there are malnourished children at Cap Anamur Hospital in the Nuba Mountains year-round, their numbers double during the rainy season. This is because the undersupply of children and the resulting mortality increases significantly, especially during the rainy and malaria seasons.
Feeding program against malnutrition at Cap Anamur Hospital in Lwere
The feeding program ensures a constant supply of adequate food portions. The children’s nutritional status is significantly improved over a longer period of time. The ultimate goal is to bring the children’s body weight to a normal state. This process must be medically supervised so that children do not experience negative consequences if they are given the wrong food or too much. In the final outfeeding program, the children’s development is monitored for a few more weeks.
Case report of an 11-month-old child with severe malnutrition
Kalo, 11 months old, was admitted to Cap Anamur Hospital in Lwere 7 weeks ago. At 4.2 kg, he was severely malnourished.
Children at this age should have a normal weight of 7.5 kilograms. In the hospital, he received multiple transfusions and struggled with pneumonia, malaria and diarrhea, as his body was far too weak to fight these diseases. At first he was so weak that he could only lie down or had to be cradled.
Now he sits and crawls again and enchants everyone with his laughter. He now weighs 6.5 kg and can now go back home to his siblings. In the outfeeding program, Kalo’s development will be accompanied and observed for a few more weeks. But Kalo is now so strong again that he can withstand infectious diseases much better.