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UN PhotoUNICEF / CHILDREN MALNUTRITION
STORY: UNICEF / SOUTH SUDAN CHILDREN MALNUTRITION
TRT: 03:15
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNICEF ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 08 MARCH 2025, RUBKONA, BENTIU STATE, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Med shot, a girl’s height being measured to detect and monitor her growth; she walks gingerly with the aid of her mother
2. Close up, mother putting her sick child on her lap
3. Various shots, inside the Bentiu State Hospital stabilization centre ward where children are being screened and treated against malnutrition
4. Med shot, inside the Bentiu State hospital where mothers are with their children
5. Close up, a child who suffers from malnutrition inside the Bentiu State hospital
6. Med shot, therapeutic Milk Formulas are being prepared to be offered for children who suffers from malnutrition
7. Med shot, a mother feeds her child with Therapeutic Milk Formulas inside Bentiu State Hospital
8. Med shot, a mother feeds her child with Therapeutic Milk Formulas inside Bentiu State Hospital
9. Close up, a malnourished child after drinking nutrient-rich milk inside Bentiu State Hospital
10. Wide shot, a mother of twins with her babies inside Bentiu State Hospital
11. Med shot, a mother plays with her baby, who smiles and laughs back to her
12. Wide shot, UNICEF South Sudan Representative inside Bentiu State Hospital holding and playing with a baby
13. Med shot, UNICEF South Sudan Representative inside Bentiu State Hospital talking to a mother
14. Med shot, UNICEF South Sudan Representative inside Bentiu State Hospital playing with a child
15. Close up, UNICEF South Sudan Representative inside Bentiu State Hospital playing with a child
16.SOUNDBITE (English) Noala Skinner, South Sudan Representative, UNICEF:
“Been to Bentiu State hospital this morning and I've had the chance to visit the nutrition activities here.
I visited the in-patient stabilisation centre, and I've also had the chance to visit the outpatient system that exists here to treat children who are identified as being at risk of severe and acute malnutrition, or who have been identified as having severe and acute malnutrition. The little ones who I met this morning; they were identified in time. They were able to come to the stabilisation centre, even though they were very sick. We heard stories of vomiting, of diarrhoea, of intestinal worms, of inability to latch on and breastfeed. And we heard so many stories about children who were really suffering. And if they hadn't got treatment, if they hadn't got the right counselling, if they hadn't got the right support, if they hadn't had that therapeutic feed, if they hadn't had that ready to use therapeutic foods, they may not have made it.”
More than 60,000 malnourished children in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state are at risk of plunging deeper into malnutrition as treatment supplies run critically low and resupply efforts are hampered, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF warned today (May 8).
Intensified fighting along the White Nile River has meant no humanitarian supplies have reached the area in almost a month. The river is the main humanitarian supply corridor into Upper Nile.
Upper Nile state has some of the highest rates of malnutrition in South Sudan, with over 300,000 children affected by moderate or severe malnutrition in the past year. As the rainy season progresses and conflict continues to displace families, the spread of waterborne diseases and increased food insecurity is expected to contribute to a rise in the number of malnourished children.
Without urgent access and resupply of vital assistance, WFP and UNICEF expect to exhaust nutrition supplies to treat moderate and severe cases of malnutrition by the end of May. This will bring life-saving treatment programmes across the state to a standstill, impacting tens of thousands of children undergoing treatment.
