wfn.org | Nourishment for Southern Sudan Famine Victims

["Christian B. Schäffler" <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

September 6, 1998
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

Nourishment for Southern Sudan Famine Victims
98/29/09

Nairobi, Kenya, 06.09.1998 [APD/ADRA]  In light of 
the widespread hunger and starvation in much of 
southern Sudan, which has claimed the lives of 
thousands, the Adventist Development and Relief 
Agency (ADRA) is providing food and milk to the 
suffering people.

More than 701,000 people are in dire need of food in
the Bahr el Ghazal alone, reports the United Nations 
Children's Fund /Operation Lifeline Sudan
(UNICEF/OLS) and other members of OLS in nutritional 
assessments conducted in the area. Of this 
population, approximately 210,300 people, or 30 
percent, are children under five years old. Eighteen
percent, or 38,000, of these same children are
severely malnourished.

ADRA South Sudan recently received four-and-a-half 
20-foot containers of BP-5 Compact Food biscuits from 
ADRA Norway, and one container of BP-5 as well as two 
containers of THM-100 therapeutic milk powder from
ADRA Denmark. In total, ADRA South Sudan received 98
tons of the biscuits, and 20.58 tons of the milk
powder. BP-5 Compact Food is an emergency food 
suitable for use in relief operations during natural 
or man-made disasters throughout the world, says 
James Astleford, ADRA South Sudan director.

In partnership with other non-governmental 
organisations (NGO's), among them UNICEF and World 
Vision International, ADRA has distributed 78.4 tons 
of the donated biscuits and nearly 13 tons of the
milk powder to an estimated population of 143,000
moderately and severely malnourished people in Bahr 
el Ghazal and eastern Equatorial regions of south 
Sudan since early July this year. 

"The milk is given as therapeutic food for severely
malnourished children," reports Rehema R. Gakoko, 
ADRA South Sudan information officer. "The biscuits 
are given as supplementary feeding for moderately 
malnourished children and adults." 

The famine ravaging most of southern Sudan is 
attributed largely to the abnormal climatic patterns 
which reigned last year, and partly to the on-going 
civil strife. As was feared, this year has been a 
trying one for the southern part of the country as
 severe famine spreads, leaving large populations 
severely malnourished.

"Drastic food shortages have been a continuous
problem in Sudan," reports Stephen Cooper, ADRA South
Sudan program director, "although the current 
situation has proven to be the most devastating 
in several decades. Officials have cautioned that this 
is only the beginning of an extensive famine that is
expected to continue well into 1999."

Elsewhere in the same region, ADRA is running a US$3 
million United States Agency for International 
Development (USAID)-funded child survival and 
veterinary health care project. A further US$238,000 
provided by the Dutch Government is enabling ADRA's 
team to renovate 38 water pumps which have fallen 
into a state of disrepair. In Western Equatoria, 
large grants from Denmark and Sweden are enhancing 
educational opportunities for these desperately poor 
people.