Sudan: "Survival package" for Southern children
| Publisher | IRIN |
| Publication Date | 24 March 2009 |
| Cite as | IRIN, Sudan: "Survival package" for Southern children, 24 March 2009, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/49cb32f91c.html [accessed 2 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
HILAYA, 24 March 2009 (IRIN) - The screaming child wriggles in her mother's lap as a health worker swabs her arms in preparation for a measles injection.
It is tough being a child in South Sudan, where routine immunisation coverage is the lowest in world, according to official statistics.
"The children get sick, and I can't get the money for the medicine," said Joyce Warrida, a single mother of three from the remote Hiyala village in Eastern Equatoria state.
"There is not enough food, no money for school fees; I struggle and hope this will change," Warrida, a recent returnee from a refugee camp in Kenya, added.
Only 13 percent of children in South Sudan are fully vaccinated - a worse rate than even in Sudan's war-torn western region of Darfur, where 29 percent are covered, according to official 2006 statistics.
Efforts are, however, being made to change that. Last week, health authorities launched a crucial "child survival" package in Eastern Equatoria state, before rolling it out across the South's other nine states.
More than two decades of civil war left this region with some of the worst health indicators for children in the world, but the package - which includes vaccinations and Vitamin A - seeks to cut child deaths by a fifth.
"This is very, very important," Florence Otto, State Minister for Health in Eastern Equatoria, said at the programme's launch in Hiyala village.
"The package includes immunisation against polio, measles for children and tetanus for mothers," Otto added. "There is also the distribution of mosquito nets to help cut malaria."
Sudan is Africa's largest country, with an estimated population of 40 million - 15 percent of whom are under-five.
Officials hope the scheme will reach almost three-quarters of children, providing a one-off programme of interventions and promoting good health practices, such as breastfeeding and personal hygiene.
According to Otto, the Accelerated Child Survival Initiative (ACSI) should reach even remote communities previously excluded from health services.
A similar scheme has been implemented in Senegal, Mali, Benin and Ghana, cutting child mortality rates by an average 20 percent. It is backed by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
"We know from experience across Africa that accelerated child survival and development programmes, which focus on simple but effective health activities, can reduce child mortality," said Peter Crowley, UNICEF's director for South Sudan.
"Lives are being saved every day ... allowing for the possibility for children to grow healthy and strong, fulfil [their] potential and in the process contribute to the development of society as a whole."
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