The Advisor to the national Minister of Health Dr Samson Baba says they are losing battle in addressing the issue of malnutrition in South Sudan.
He while launching the State of Children’s report Worldwide says the root causes of malnutrition are not being addressed.
‘In South Sudan in particular, having read some of the reports {malnutrition reports}, we are fighting a losing battle because we are not addressing the root causes of the problem. We are just scratching at the top. Nutritionists, physician here and there, but the issue is this, do these children because the number is increasing and it is worrying. So if we are going to concentrate on utilizing resources only for treating, treating, then we have lost the battle’, Baba stresses
.
The health Advisor calls on UNICEF and partners to change the strategy on addressing the issue of malnutrition.
‘The conditions that lead to malnutrition are well-known. Are we addressing them? How many families have safe drinking water and how many families are drinking raw water right from the river or streams? The storage of water in the households, we are not addressing the issue. We need to invest in prevention; we need to put a strategy that works. Let us think holistically, where are we? Where are we heading to, we have to talk about it honestly’.
He adds that ‘When somebody writes a report that they have treated this number of children, where are they treated? In which Boma, which county and what percentage is it of the whole population. I’m not impressed of the figures only. We have inherited something which isn’t appropriate. Good report, good English, very convincing, but when you look at the data, there is something flout about it and we have to be honest because we are dealing with human lives. Is not a matter of giving reports because we want to protect our organizations?
Andrea Suley, Deputy Representative for UNICEF South Sudan reports that the prevalence of acute malnutrition has increased from 13 percent in 2018 to 16 percent in 2019.
The officials were giving speeches during the launch of the World’s Children 2019 report in Juba.