Death of Hundreds of Children Due to Food Shortages
Moatinoon
An international relief organization has announced that at least 500 Sudanese children have died of starvation due to food shortages resulting from the war in the country.
The international community has been urged to intensify efforts and work to increase funding and find collective solutions to ensure the delivery of food to children and their families throughout Sudan.
Save the Children organization stated in a statement on Tuesday that at least 498 children in Sudan and possibly hundreds of others have died due to hunger, including 24 children in an orphanage in the state, as food has run out or vital services have been suspended.
Dr. Arif Noor, the country director of Save the Children in Sudan, said, We never thought we would see so many children dying of hunger, but this is the reality in Sudan now.
The organization explained that the war forced it to close 57 of its nutrition facilities, resulting in the loss of treatment for 31,000 children suffering from malnutrition and related diseases across the country. Meanwhile, therapeutic foods are dangerously dwindling in the remaining 108 facilities that are still operational due to the necessity of using the reserve stock or emergency supplies designated for extreme cases.
In Al-Qadarif state alone, at least 132 children have died due to malnutrition between April and July.
The hospital has treated 36% of all cases of children admitted to the hospital due to malnutrition or related diseases. The hospital has witnessed a significant increase in malnutrition cases, particularly among children who have recently fled from Khartoum and are living in poor camps.
Dr. Nasreen Abu Jadur, director of the Childrens Hospital in Al-Qadarif state, was quoted as saying that malnutrition has claimed the lives of 132 children, amidst a significant increase in the diseases prevalence in the state and within the displaced peoples camps fleeing the war in Khartoum.
The Childrens Hospital recorded 365 cases of malnutrition from the beginning of April to the end of July 2023. A total of 33 deaths were recorded in April, compared to 41 in May, and 24 in June compared to 34 deaths in July. The death rate among children due to malnutrition reached 20% of the cases received by the hospital. The organization pointed out an increase in malnutrition cases in four localities in the state: Al-Mafaza, Al-Qalabat Al-Sharqia, Rif Qalat Nahal, and Al-Qalabat Al-Gharbia.
In White Nile state, at least 316 children, most of them under the age of five, have died due to malnutrition or related diseases between May and July. More than 2400 cases of severely acute malnutrition - the most severe form of malnutrition - have been admitted to nutrition facilities since the beginning of the year.
In Khartoum, at least 50 children have died, including at least 24 due to hunger or related diseases in a state-run orphanage after fighting prevented staff from accessing the building to care for them.
It was also mentioned that the countrys only factory producing fava bean paste and essential nutritional supplements to combat malnutrition was destroyed and leveled in the second month of the war in May. Dozens of warehouses belonging to the World Food Program and relief organizations like Save the Children have been raided since the conflict began, with the World Food Program announcing in May that at least 14 million worth of food supplies had been looted. Dozens of World Food Program trucks have been delayed at border points, exacerbating the crisis.
