Sudan Health Interventions Making Progress

Health interventions in south Darfur are continuing to make progress, as more malnourished children and pregnant mothers are being signed up for supplementary feeding programs, and as a health clinic in Otash treats hundreds of patients

By Kenneth Chan, Friday, October 22, 2004

Health interventions in south Darfur are continuing to make progress, as more malnourished children and pregnant mothers are being signed up for supplementary feeding programs, and as a health clinic in Otash treats hundreds of patients. The program, run by the international humanitarian group World Vision, has benefited over 1,000 malnourished children and mothers since August.

Of these beneficiaries, World Vision reports over 960 are malnourished children under the age of five, while the others are pregnant and lactating women. The agency reports that each of those signed up for the program receives monthly rations. The supplementary feeding clinics are operational in Otash and Sereif camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) near Nyala Town.

Meanwhile, the Otash clinic, which was the first to open its doors to displaced people in mid-August, looks after 800 patients a week in its primary health care section. World Vision reports that the most common ailment is malaria (37.1 percent of cases), followed by respiratory tract infections (13.1 percent).

The agency also reported that its health interventions are improving, as the program works to build the capacity of national staff and bring on board more doctors and health specialists. Last week, 70 new beneficiaries were screened and admitted into the supplementary feeding program while ten cases of severe malnutrition were transferred to Nyala Hospital for more specialized treatment.

Otash and Sereif are just two of the many camps around Nyala Town populated by people displaced by the war in Sudan’s western region of Darfur. World Vision is also distributing general food rations to IDPs in these camps in addition to others like Kalma (93,000 people), Mosey (5,500) and Dereg (8,800).