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SOUTH SUDAN / MALNUTRITION
STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / MALNUTRITION
TRT: 02:54
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / DINKA / NATS
DATELINE: 25 – 26 JULY 2016, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Wide shot, women and children at the hospital
2. Med shot, a malnourished child at the hospital
3. Wide shot, women and children at the hospital
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Hellen Martin, UNICEF Nutrition Officer:
“We can already see the impact of the crisis. In terms of rates of malnutrition, we have seen an increase of admission rates.”
5. Wide shot, women and children at Concern Centre
6. Various shots, woman and child receiving plumpy-nut supplies
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Hellen Martin, UNICEF Nutrition Officer:
“On the onset of the crisis, most services were stopped.”
8. Close up, malnourished children in IMC clinic in Juba PoC
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Rita Charles, Doctor at Al Sabbah Children’s Hospital:
“Insecurity has played a role. Because in the past you could see people going outside Juba, they could farm on their own. But now, you cannot move anymore.”
10. Med shot, malnourished child in IMC clinic in Juba PoC
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Rita Charles, Doctor at Al Sabbah Children’s Hospital
“Surely it has become a challenge for us to receive readmissions. The same patient goes home and is readmitted in the same condition.”
12. Med shot, malnourished child in IMC clinic in Juba PoC
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Hellen Martin, UNICEF nutrition officer:
“The general situation is that people are worried because there is no food in the country.”
14. Wide shot, Sunday Samuel, mother of Bismah, with severe malnutrition in Al Sabbah Children’s Hospital
15. Med shot, Sunday Samuel walking with her baby in the hospital
16. Close up, Sunday Samuel walking with her baby in the hospital
17. SOUNDBITE (Dinka) Sunday Samuel, Mother of Malnourished Child:
“Life was normal before the crisis, but now everything is more expensive. Someone who has nothing won't get even flour to eat. Only if you have a lot of money, you can buy flour to eat.”
18. Med Shot, Sunday Samuel with her baby at the hospital
19. Tilt up, baby being weighed at the hospital
20. Med shot, Sunday Samuel and the baby being measured at the hospital
21. Close up, arm being measured
22. SOUNDBITE (Dinka) Sunday Samuel, Mother of Malnourished Child:
“It started with diarrhoea. So I decided to take her to the hospital, where I expected to get treatment.”
22. Med Shot, Doctor Rita Charles assisting a patient
23. Close up, Doctor Rita Charles assisting Sunday Samuel and her baby
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Rita Charles, Doctor at Al Sabbah Children’s Hospital:
“A lot of them have malnutrition with complicated diseases. Some are conscious, some even unconscious.”
25. Med shot, Sunday Samuel helping her baby to walk outside the hospital
26. Close up, Sunday Samuel walking with her baby outside the hospital
27. Close up, Sunday Samuel creaming her baby inside the hospital
28. SOUNDBITE (Dinka) Sunday Samuel, Mother of Malnourished Child:
“I don’t have any hope for the future because there is nothing. I don't have the ability and nobody can help me. I’m only expecting the aid organizations to support me. If my child has problems, they are the ones that can help her.”
29. Close up, Sunday Samuel holding her baby inside the hospital
30. SOUNDBITE (Dinka) Sunday Samuel, Mother of Malnourished Child:
“Life is difficult, mostly for my baby.”
31. Med shot, Sunday Samuel washing her baby outside the hospital
Millions of people in South Sudan are struggling to feed themselves as years of conflict take their toll on the economy. Children continue to be most seriously affected with a sharp increase in the number being treated for malnutrition.
A recent survey warned that more than a third of South Sudan’s population – 4.8 million - people are facing severe food. Malnutrition rates in seven of the country’s 10 states have reached the emergency threshold, according to UNICEF estimates, meaning that more than 15 per cent of the population is malnourished. In some areas it has reached 33 percent.
SOUNDBITE (English) Hellen Martin, UNICEF Nutrition Officer:
“We can already see the impact of the crisis. In terms of rates of malnutrition, we have seen an increase of admission rates.”
Before the fighting that shook South Sudan’s capital, Juba, last month, staff at the Al Sabah children’s hospital were admitting about 30 children a day for the treatment of malnutrition. Today that number often surpasses 80.
SOUNDBITE (English) Hellen Martin, UNICEF Nutrition Officer:
“On the onset of the crisis, most services were stopped.”
Doctor Rita Charles works in the hospital’s nutrition ward. She says the recent conflict has made it more difficult for people to cope.
SOUNDBITE (English) Rita Charles, Doctor at Al Sabbah Children’s Hospital:
“Insecurity has played a role. Because in the past you could see people going outside Juba, they could farm on their own. But now, you cannot move anymore. Surely it has become a challenge for us to receive readmissions. The same patient goes home and is readmitted in the same condition.”
Sunday Samuel arrived ten days ago with her two year-old daughter Bismah, after the child, sick with malaria, stopped eating. She was treated for edema, given medicines for malaria and fed with a therapeutic milk formula called F-75. Her mother says she has improved, though she is still underweight and has a persistent cough.
SOUNDBITE (Dinka) Sunday Samuel, Mother of Malnourished Child:
“Life was normal before the crisis, but now everything is more expensive. Someone who has nothing won't get even flour to eat. Only if you have a lot of money, you can buy flour to eat.”
Nearly three years of insecurity has fractured South Sudan’s economy and with inflation running at around 300 percent basic food supplies are now too expensive for many families.
A recent survey warned that more than a third of South Sudan’s population – 4.8 million - people are facing severe food. Malnutrition rates in seven of the country’s 10 states have reached the emergency threshold, according to UNICEF estimates, meaning that more than 15 per cent of the population is malnourished. In some areas it has reached 33 per cent.
The first air shipment brought hundreds of boxes of fortified powdered milk that are used to treat the most critically ill children, much destined for Al Sabah.
SOUNDBITE (English) Rita Charles, Doctor at Al Sabbah Children’s Hospital:
“A lot of them have malnutrition with complicated diseases. Some are conscious, some even unconscious.”
Like thousands of others, Sunday and her family fled their home during the four days of intense clashes, returning once a ceasefire had taken hold. But even before the latest violence, they struggled to feed themselves.
As she bathes her crying daughter at the hospital, Sunday says she no longer has hope for the future. She looks to humanitarian organizations and the staff at Al Sabah for help.
SOUNDBITE (Dinka) Sunday Samuel, Mother of Malnourished Child:
“I don’t have any hope for the future because there is nothing. I don't have the ability and nobody can help me. I’m only expecting the aid organizations to support me. If my child has problems, they are the ones that can help her. Life is difficult, mostly for my baby.”
That night, despite the care from the doctors and nurses and the constant tender ministrations from her mother, Bismah passed away. The next morning Sunday returned home alone.
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