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Here's what we mean when we say we're saving lives in South Sudan.
One year ago, a little girl named Elizabeth was dying. She was so malnourished she couldn’t keep her eyes open. The child’s skin was peeling off.
But her mother picked her up and carried her, walking six hours to an IRC stabilization center, which treats children who are both acutely malnourished and dealing with other illnesses like malaria. Elizabeth was put in the severe ward until she was stable and able to drink milk. When that happened, she was moved to a larger facility. The recovery process usually requires a month of supervision in the center
"I was so worried," Elizabeth's mother told us. "I had never seen someone dying before. But here my child was, dying in front of me. I was just hoping that the treatment here would work. If it didn't, I don't know what I would have done."
A total of 860,000 children in South Sudan are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition this year. Food insecurity is driven by little or no harvests, seasonally low or no consumption of livestock products, and limited access to assistance, markets, and wild foods. This summer alone, an estimated 7 million people will be in need of food assistance. |
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