Malnutrition growing among Sudanese children

A growing number of children are malnourished in Sudan, according to the Ministry of Health.

The State Minster of Health announced in the  Parliament on Monday that there is an increased child malnutrition rate in the country. Sumaya Idris presented a report on the Ministry's performance for 2015 and the first quarter of this year.

Stunted growth has increased from 33 to 35 percent from 2006 to 2010, and again to 38 percent in 2014. Chronic malnutrition may result in stunted growth, making a child shorter than average for his or her age. Unlike acute malnutrition, it occurs over time.

Minister Idris pointed out that there is a relative stability in the number of children who are weakened by malnutrition. Their rate slightly increased from 15 percent in 2006 to 16 percent in 2010, and numbers remained stable in 2014.

She said there are 1.5 million verified cases of malaria in Sudan. 5.4 new cases of HIV/AIDS were discovered last year; an increase of 4 percent from 2014.

The Ministry of Health acknowledged that it faces many challenges. It highlighted the problem of staff shortages in the many smaller hospitals in Sudan. Doctor assistants and other medical staff often transfer from local hospitals to elsewhere.

According to the UN Children Fund (Unicef) last month, approximately 2 million children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition, of which 550,000 are severely acutely malnourished.