Unicef reports high malnutrition rates in Jebel Marra

A recent survey conducted in the Jebel Marra area of Central Darfur found critical levels of acute malnutrition, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) reported.

A Unicef mission found cases that relate to a Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate of 15.7 per cent, and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) of 5 per cent. 'WHO defines GAM rates above 15 per cent and SAM rates above 3 per cent as emergency situations,' the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports in its news bulletin.

April this year, after lobbying and repeated requests, Unicef was granted access to areas and residents or displaced people in Darfur and Blue Nile that were previously sealed-off by the Sudanese authorities for international aid organisations. Golo area in Central Darfur was one of the newly accessible areas for Unicef.

Unicef cooperates with the federal and state-level Ministry of Health to mobilise response activities for approximately 200,000 displaced or people who recently returned to the Jebel Marra area of Central Darfur, including an estimated 120,000 children.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the Humanitarian Coordinator has requested funding from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (Cerf) for an immediate response in Jebel Marra. The organisation wants to focus on areas with high malnutrition, and newly accessible locations.