Hunger in Central Darfur’s Deleig camp

The residents of Deleig camp for the displaced in Wadi Salih locality, Central Darfur, are suffering from a delay in food ration distribution.

One of the displaced told Dabanga that the people are hungry, as “food has not been distributed for three months”.

He called on relief organisations to accelerate the provision of foodstuffs to the camp.

New food distribution system

On 21 November, Dabanga reported that the World Food Programme (WFP) planned to start an alternative food distribution programme in 2015 for the displaced in the Central Darfur camps, together with government institutions and local traders.

The new programme will start with a pilot in the Hamidiya camp. Depending on the success of the project, similar food programmes will be implemented in the other camps for the displaced. The system will cut down WFP costs of transporting and storing good.

About 400,000 displaced in Central Darfur are receiving food aid through the General Food Distribution project. “The food voucher programme allows displaced people to meet their dietary needs through preferred products and commodities. The vouchers also support local economy and strengthen local markets,” according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan.

Funding

OCHA reported in its weekly bulletin on 18 January that donor funding to the nutrition sector has been declining since 2010.

“In 2010, nutrition sector projects received 74 percent of the funds requested, while in 2014 the rate went down to 54 percent, the lowest since 2010,” according to OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service.

OCHA stated that malnutrition among children in Sudan is chronic, with “emergency level” rates recorded during the last decades. “Child malnutrition is observed in both conflict and non-conflict affected states, as well as in all socio-economic groups, including the wealthiest.”