Sudan’s Al Jazira state launches survey to fight child malnutrition

July 7, 2025 (WAD MADANI) – Health authorities in Sudan’s central Al Jazira state announced an urgent field survey on Monday to detect and treat soaring rates of child malnutrition, as they work to rebuild a health sector devastated during months of paramilitary control.

The initiative comes after the state’s health infrastructure collapsed during its occupation by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), whom local authorities accuse of a systematic campaign of sabotage against government and health facilities.

“The coming period will witness the launch of the nutritional survey in several localities to detect and treat malnutrition cases,” Faisal Shatta, the state’s Director of Primary Health Care, said in a statement.

To support the effort, the ministry is partnering with the aid group Save the Children to train staff from 121 community treatment centres this week on managing severe acute malnutrition.

Save the Children representative Mustafa Suleiman said the group would also launch an emergency project, funded by Canadian Aid, to provide malnutrition and protection services at two health centres in the state capital, Wad Madani.

The local effort reflects a nationwide crisis. The U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned in May that 3.2 million Sudanese children are at risk of acute malnutrition this year, with 770,000 facing the severe form of the condition.

Children have been the most affected group in the conflict that erupted in April 2023, facing risks of death, sexual violence, abduction, and forced recruitment by armed groups, according to aid agencies.