Five infants die of malnutrition in North Darfur’s Zamzam camp

During the past three weeks, five children died of the consequences of malnutrition in the Zamzam camp for the displaced, located near El Fasher, capital of North Darfur. A medical staff member of one of the health centres in Zamzam camp, located told Radio Dabanga that five children died in the camp during the past three weeks, owing to malnutrition. “There are about 30 infants in a critical condition at the moment.” She explained that malnourished children started ailing in July. “The cases increased rapidly in August and early September.” According to statistics available at the camp, some 3,500 displaced infants and children are malnourished. The source said that many of the cases appeared among the newly displaced. “They did not receive food rations since May – while the prices of consumer goods at the markets are soaring.” The medic urged the UN World Food Programme to “take immediate action, provide food to the children, and solve the problem of the distribution of food rations to the newly displaced”. File photo: A child eats lentils in a food distribution centre in the Rwanda camp, Tawila locality, North Darfur, 4 March 2014 (Albert González Farran/Unamid) Related: Darfur displaced cry out for ‘urgent help’ (12 September 2014)