Conflict throughout the last four months in South Sudan’s Unity State has displaced much the population and prevented families from providing enough nutritious food to their children.
Photographs recently published by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and World Food Programme (WFP) shed some light on conditions in Ganyiel, located in a swampland in southern Unity State.
Tens of thousands of people trekked to the area fleeing conflict elsewhere in the state. But the Ganyiel area has been cut off from supplies normally brought by river. Last year also the area was hit by severe floods, washing away crops.
In the photo above, a four-year old child named Nyajieme is treated at an IRC clinic in Ganyiel. She weighed less than nine pounds when she arrived at the clinic, compared to a normal weight of 40 pounds for other girls her age.
Another photo shows an IRC health worker measuring a child’s upper arm to determine whether she suffers from malnutrition. Over forty percent of the children under age five seen at the IRC clinic in Ganyliel are malnourished.
WFP started making airdrops of food to Ganyiel a month ago. They distributed food to about 25,000 people.
IRC photos: Visit a South Sudan town devastated by conflict and hunger (14 Apr. 2014)
WFP photos: Food Assistance Reaches Thousands in Ganyiel (24 March 2014)