Darfur Dances

HEALTH
On 30 September 2013, in one of the health clinics in the Abu Shouk camp, a nurse examines a child. The health clinic is run by nongovernmental organisation
Patients Helping Fund, with the support of UN agencies and the Government of Sudan. Photo by Albert González Farran, UNAMID.
Darfur’s Struggle to Eliminate Child Malnutrition
In the conflict-torn region of Darfur, where a decade-long struggle has led to
widespread population displacements, food shortages and public health issues, child
malnutrition remains an ongoing problem.
By Sharon Lukunka
At the in-patient ward of one of the
health centres in the Abu Shouk
camp for internally displaced people in
North Darfur, the staff nutritionists say
the condition of 21-month-old Mustapha
has improved significantly since
he arrived two weeks earlier. When his
mother checked him in, he weighed a
mere 7.8 kilogrammes. He was admitted
to the centre for severe acute malnutrition
and skin eczema. Mustapha’s case,
unfortunately, is not uncommon in Darfur,
where a decade-long conflict has led
to widespread population displacements,
food shortages and public health issues.
Dr. Nazir Abdulmajid, the officer
in charge of the children’s health centre
in Abu Shouk where Mustapha is
receiving treatment, explains that the
number of malnutrition cases among
children under five years old increases
from June to October each year. This
period in Darfur, he says, is when
farmers plant their crops and work
the land. “A lot of mothers, especially
those in camps for displaced people,
have no means of making a living, so
they must rely mostly on the crops they
grow for food,” he says, explaining
that during the dry season, which runs
from November to May, many families
run short of food.
Ms. Khadija Abdallah, Mustapha’s
mother, is one of many thousands of
mothers living in camps for displaced
people. She says that during the rainy
22 VOICES OF DARFUR • NOVEMBER 2013