A new referral centre for malnourished children under five years has been opened in Yei town in South Sudan’s Yei River State.
The centre that was launched on Wednesday by ACROSS in partnership with UNICEF, is a response to severe malnutrition cases in the area.
Speaking during the launch, Emanuel Soma, Health Manager for ACROSS, said severe malnutrition cases have been recorded in the area, while attributing the problem to lack of nutritious meals for children.
He pointed out that one-third of every child in the war-affected areas in the country needs stabilization through provision of emergency nutritious meals.
“You know when children are faced with hunger and lack of nutritious foods like proteins and calories, the children are bound to have malnutrition,” said Soma.
“This ward will be an inpatient facility where all malnourished children who require admission will be admitted,” he added.
Meanwhile, John Wani, Medical Director of Yei Civil Hospital, pointed to increasing cases of malnutrition in the area.
Wani said they received 109 malnourished children from the villages last month due to shortages of food and inaccessibility to the state hospital.
“This stabilization centre has been opened because the common health problems we receive in the hospital are malnutrition. Malnutrition in Yei state is increasing and the new cases have increased to 109 patients,” he said.
Photo: Malnutrition centre in Yei (Radio Tamazuj)