Juru Juliet, Save the Children Nutrition Coordinator in Kapoeta North County, attributed the continued rise in malnutrition levels to food insecurity caused by climatic shocks and bird infestations that destroyed farm crops in the area.
“The months that we see cases increasing are March, April, May, June, and July. This is because most of the food produced or the harvest that the community had in the previous seasons has completely diminished within the household,” Juliet told Sudans Post during a field visit organized last week by the World Food Programme.
“So the community has less to feed on than what they were supposed to feed on,” she added.
Juliet revealed that they are supporting around 13 facilities across Kapoeta North, adding that cases are increasing daily due to a lack of food among the community.
“The community did not harvest in the first season, and most of the food that was grown was invaded by birds. Most of the sorghum was eaten up by birds, so the households really had very limited food that they harvested from the first season,” she said.
Juliet said that last year they admitted around 4,000 children for malnutrition compared to the 5,000 admitted in 2024. She also disclosed that this year they had treated 5,149 mothers compared to 4,553 treated in 2023.
Save the Children, with support from the World Food Programme (WFP), is currently providing various nutrition services in Kapoeta North to mitigate malnutrition among children.
Nakai Lotor, whose child was treated for malnutrition, said her child’s condition has improved.
“The child is moderately malnourished. Two weeks ago, I brought the child, and now I am seeing her condition improving because of the support I got from here,” said Lotor.
Lotor said she usually fed her child well, but her condition deteriorated after she was diagnosed with acute malnutrition.
Adele Losike, a mother of two, said her children were diagnosed with malnutrition due to poor feeding at home after her crops failed to grow.
She said she lost her crops due to the drought that hit the area this year, forcing her to resort to burning and selling charcoal in the local market to feed her children.
“My children have been diagnosed with malnutrition due to the severe lack of food in our area. It breaks my heart to see them suffer like this, and I am desperate for any help or support that can be provided to ensure they receive the nutrition they need to grow and thrive,” said Losike.
She called on the local government and humanitarian agencies to provide urgent assistance to the population in Kapoeta North County, who she said are in a dire situation.
Gaba Rose Khamis, a Stabilization Center Nurse at Riwoto primary healthcare center, said that malnutrition cases are expected to increase in December due to the poor harvest this year.
“We admit children who have severe malnutrition with medical complications. Those are mostly under OTP; they are the ones that we admit here and we treat them. We do diagnosis, we do investigations, and after finding the diagnosis, we enroll them on treatment. We have our drugs,” Khamis said.
She said they put the children on therapeutic milk, F-75 and F-100, at the Stabilization Center for 10 days before discharging them.
Khamis said they admit 15 to 20 children every month, adding that they have so far treated a total of 150 cases of severe malnutrition since January.
She said WFP supports them with cooking oil, salt, sorghum, and pulses, which they give to the children’s caretakers at the inpatient ward.
According to The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reports, the nutrition situation has also deteriorated, with an estimated 2.1 million children aged 6-59 months suffering or expected to suffer elevated levels of acute malnutrition between July 2024 and June 2025, out of which 650,000 are cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).
About 1.11 million pregnant or breastfeeding women (PBW) are also suffering or expected to suffer elevated levels of acute malnutrition in the same period.