The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that nearly a fifth of all children screened for acute malnutrition in South Sudan last week indicated for the condition.
In the agency’s latest bulletin, released on Friday, OCHA reported that aid workers screened 11,336 children for malnutrition in the past week. The children were tested with a measurement referred to as MUAC, ‘mid-upper arm circumference.’
MUAC is one of the diagnostic criteria for severe acute malnutrition. A measurement of less than 115 mm is an indicator of severe malnutrition, while a measurement of 115-125 mm indicates moderate acute malnutrition.
“Of these, 6.6 per cent had a MUAC measurement of less than 115 mm and 12.3 per cent had MUAC 115-125 mm, indicating quite high levels of acute malnutrition in the area,” reads the UN report.
Judging by these percentages, 748 of the screened children were found to have severe malnutrition while 1394 were found with moderate malnutrition. That would tally to 2142 malnourished children overall within the last week.
That is an approximation for the number of children newly diagnosed with acute malnutrition. It does not include the total number of children already admitted to malnutrition treatment programmes or who have not reached a medical facility.
OCHA says that overall since the start of the year aid agencies have treated about 43,500 children for severe malnutrition and about 40,000 for moderate malnutrition.
Additionally 12,739 pregnant and lactating women have been treated for malnutrition.
In its previous bulletin dated 21 August, OCHA stated that the mortality rate for the 43,141 children (0-59 months) admitted to severe malnutrition programmes was 0.6 percent, and for moderate malnutrition programs the mortality rate for the 39,650 admitted children was 0.3 percent.
No mortality estimates were reported for the general population including those who did not reach a medical facility.
Medical aid organization MSF, in its August monthly update, said that the current conflict “has had a devastating effect on food security” causing a spike in malnutrition this year beyond the normally seasonally recurring levels.
“In the first seven months of 2014 up to August 3, MSF treated 16,086 children for malnutrition with the majority of cases seen in the three affected states. This represents 89% of the 18,125 total malnutrition admissions by MSF for all of 2013,” the medical organization reported.
MSF noted, however, that humanitarian interventions have stabilized the malnutrition rates in some areas. Citing the example of Leer, where food and medical services were provided since May, MSF stated, “these actions helped to stabilize what had previously been an extremely concerning situation.”
File photo: A malnourished child in Jonglei, South Sudan (WFP)