UN treats over 84,000 children with acute malnutrition in South Sudan since January

Kampala, Uganda | XINHUA | At least 84,625 children with acute malnutrition in South Sudan were treated in therapeutic centers since the beginning of this year, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.

Mohamed Ag Ayoya, UNICEF Representative in South Sudan, said in a statement issued in Juba that this achievement is one of the many results they have been able to obtain with partners in the challenging environment of COVID-19, which is continuing to unfold across South Sudan.

It said that between January and May, UNICEF and its partners reached 1.6 million children with vitamin A supplementation, vaccinated 169,300 children against measles through routine vaccination, vaccinated about 1.4 million children under five years of age during measles follow-up campaigns in 54 counties.

In addition, UNICEF also distributed about 102,700 insecticide-treated bed nets to children and pregnant women in malaria-affected areas.

UNICEF also ensured access to an additional 237,000 people with a sufficient quantity of safe water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene, in addition to providing psychosocial support services to some 12,300 children.

“Because of the restriction on movement measures put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19, we have also been struggling to travel and to deliver supplies throughout the country, and some of our programs had to be postponed or scaled-down. We hope that the conditions will allow restrictions of movement to be eased soon,” said Ayoya.

UNICEF disclosed that the number of cases of COVID-19 in South Sudan is growing, as is the number of deaths related to the disease.

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XINHUA