Images taken during an assignment for GOAL Global, in August 2022.
Conflict, climate change and an economic and political crisis are fuelling a growing humanitarian emergency in North Darfur, resulting in rising cases of malnutrition. The region has some of the poorest nutrition levels in Sudan with 45.9 per cent of children under five suffering chronic malnutrition.
Over 1.9 million people have been identified as in need of assistance with the most vulnerable living in dire conditions in Internally Displaced Persons camps such as Kassab IDP camp. These camps were first set up as temporary emergency shelters in 2004 when war swept across Darfur.
Irish aid agency GOAL is leading international aid efforts to combat rising malnutrition in the Kutum area, where 71 per cent of households live on less than AUD $3 per day amid widespread food shortages. Its primary health care clinic near Kassab IDP camp, where more than 25,000 people are in desperate need of help, has seen a sharp rise in malnutrition in recent months as families struggle to survive.
Kassab IDP (Internally Displaced People) camp is home to over 25,000 people near the town of Kutum, North Darfur. Most of the residents fled their homes at the beginning of the conflict and conditions remain dire. The root causes that led to their displacement remain unaddressed.A young girl with Severe Acute Malnutrition is weighed by GOAL medical assistants at a the Primary Health Care Clinic next to Kassab IDP camp, Kutum, North Darfur.A child is confirmed to be at risk of Severe Acute Malnutrition after a MUAC test (Mid-Upper Arm Circumference) at a GOAL Clinic next to Kassab IDP camp, Kutum, North Darfur. A 2021 GOAL assessment found 71% of households in Kutum were living on less than AUD3 per day.Kassab camp residents listen to disease prevention and health promotion advice from Community Health Promoters as they wait to be seen at a GOAL Primary Health Care Clinic next to Kassab IDP camp, near Kutum, North Darfur.Children receive Plumpy’nut and after being diagnosed with malnutrition at a GOAL Primary Health Care Clinic next to Kassab IDP camp, Kutum, North Darfur. The majority of children respond well to treatment with Ready-to-use Therapeutic Food like Plumpy’nut. This is a specially formulated high energy therapeutic paste enriched with vitamins and minerals.A general street scene in the town of Kutum, North Darfur. GOAL is the only clinic providing life-saving services for IDP and host communities in conflict-affected areas of Kutum and Al Waha. With a team of 160+, GOAL has been operational in North Darfur State for more than a decade.Plumpy’nut rations to treat children with malnutrition are delivered to the GOAL compound in Kutum, North Darfur.Neamah (35) stands outside her compound in Kassab IDP camp, Kutum, North Darfur. Neamah fled her home due to fighting and arrived in Kassab aged 18. She now lives alone with her five children. With no access to land to farm and no other source of income, Neamah only eats once a day and struggles to provide two meals a day for her children. Food security is an ongoing issue in the camp and her second child had to be treated for malnutrition when he was six years old.Kassab IDP (Internally Displaced People) near Kutum, North Darfur. Nutrition is one of the most serious socioeconomic and health problems of Sudan. Populations of Darfur are especially vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition due to the prolonged conflicts.Damaged buildings are seen before a rainstorm near the town of Kutum, North Darfur. Intense rainstorms and the lack of road infrastructure make the delivery of humanitarian aid challenging.
Jamilla (33) sits in her compound with her 20-day old boy called Amana in Kassab IDP camp, Kutum, North Darfur. Jamilla fled conflict in her home village in 2003 and was 14 when she arrived in Kassab IDP camp. Jamilla had previously lost two babies during birth.Women and girls collect water from a rehabilitated water stand in in Kassab IDP camp, Kutum, North Darfur.A women collects water from a rehabilitated water stand in in Kassab IDP camp, Kutum, North Darfur. Water sources are commonly more than 30 min away with an average wait time of more than half an hour in line, and verbal abuse and sometimes physical abuse at water points is often reported in these queues. Setana and Rawda, GOAL Community Nutrition Volunteers walk house to house checking in on families for the presence of malnutrition in Kassab IDP camp near Kutum, North Darfur. The volunteers are IDP’s themselves and live in the camp so are trusted and know the community well.Women walk back to Kassab IDP camp near the town of Kutum, North Darfur on Friday, 19th
August, 2022.
