Malnutrition cases to increase in Kapoeta North due to lack of food

 Malnutrition cases in Kapoeta North County of Esatern Equatoria State are expected to increase due to food insecurity caused by climatic shocks and birds that have destroyed farm crops in the area.

Save the children with support from the World Food Programme (WFP) is currently providing a variety of nutrition services in Kapoeta North to mitigate malnutrition among children.

 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 told journalists during a field visit organized last week by the World Food Programme.

She said that they put the children on therapeutic milk, which are F-75 and F-100 at the Stabilization Center for duration of 10 days before discharging them.

Khamis said that they admit from 15 to 20 children every month, adding that that they have so far treated a total of 150 cases with severe malnutrition  since January.

She said that WFP supports them with cooking oil, salt, sorghum and pulses that they give to the children’s caretakers at the inpatient ward.

Juru Juliet, Save the Children nutrition coordinator in Kapoeta North County said that they have been supporting around 13 facilities across Kapoeta North.

“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 have completely diminished within the household. So the community has less to feed on than what they were supposed to feed on,” said Juliet.

 “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 added.

Juliet said that last year they admitted up to around 4,000 children with malnutrition compared to the 5,000 admitted in 2024.

She also disclosed that this year they treated 5,149 mothers compared to 4,553 treated in 2023.

Nakai Lotor, said her child who was treated for malnutrition is recovering from the condition.

“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 used to routinely feed her child well but her condition deteriorated after she was diagnosed with malnutrition.

Adele Losike, a mother of two said her children were diagnosed with malnutrition due to poor feeding at home due to failure of the crops in her small farm.

She said that she lost her crops because of the drought that hit the area this year, forcing to burn and sell 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.