IMC and the Gates Foundation tackle southern Sudan famine crisis with innovative program

Southern Sudan is facing a nutritional and health emergency exacerbated by an unstable political environment, periodic drought, a high prevalence of diseases and few opportunities for sustainable livelihoods. With the financial backing of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, IMC has implemented an innovative nutritional program to help more than 45,000 people on the brink of famine in southern Sudan's Upper Nile region. Since January 2006, the Gates award has enabled IMC to help reduce the prevalence of malnutrition by strengthening the capacity of primary health care clinics to provide services, introducing new agricultural innovations, improving water and sanitation and implementing new ways to generate income.

PHOTO: IMC An IMC nutrition outreach nurse examines a child during a nutrition outreach follow-up visit.

"The Gates-supported IMC program in Upper Nile, southern Sudan offers innovative and necessary solutions to long-term challenges,” said Simon O’Connell, IMC country director in southern Sudan. “Along with complementary programs in health and nutrition, the Gates Program has provided significant development opportunities for local communities and will continue to impact the health and well-being of populations for generations to come."

IMC established a CTC program, comprised of an inpatient stabilization center and five outpatient therapeutic programs with supplementary feeding programs in southern Sudan. IMC has saved the lives of more than 170 malnourished children, including those younger than five years old, as well as pregnant and lactating mothers, by providing ready-to-use therapeutic and supplementary food. With food surpluses almost entirely depleted, IMC’s assistance is crucial.

Community health and nutrition education is increasing the awareness of the relationship between balanced diet and disease prevention. Coupled with activities such as “permaculture” and livestock health improvement, the community can appreciate the value in producing food of sufficient quantity and quality. The permaculture component ensures future food security by training communities to efficiently cultivate more land with better techniques and increased productivity. IMC is introducing people to seed varieties that are well-suited to the Upper Nile climate through seed banks near the health centers. Participants also are learning about irrigation practices and how to increase agricultural production, reduce malnutrition and improve their overall health and nutritional status.

When IMC implemented a water and sanitation program, only 31 percent of the demand for water in southern Sudan was being met and less than one percent of the people had access to latrines. IMC has now provided more than 20 hygiene trainings, constructed 50 latrines, rehabilitated 19 wells and trained new pump mechanics. In order to ensure sustainability, the latrines were built by community members using local materials. This accomplishment is considered a major step forward because communities had various beliefs and taboos that prevented them from using latrines. IMC has raised awareness on the causes and prevention of diseases and the occurrence of such diseases are expected to decrease dramatically by the end of the program.

Community members, recognizing the importance of their involvement, are becoming more actively engaged in program development. Initially, IMC formed five village health committees that were responsible for health promotion, mobilization and raising awareness. However, IMC decided that a more effective strategy would be to establish village development committees responsible for all developmental interventions. IMC has formed three 13-member VDCs that meet monthly to discuss the future development needs of their communities and follow up on current developmental activities. IMC also recruits locally to ensure transfer of skills from expatriate to national staff, 90 percent of them Sudanese nationals. To promote sustainability and develop community human resources, IMC also has trained 13 community nutrition workers.

PHOTO: IMC Members of an IMC-established village development committee in southern Sudan

IMC formed a 25-member women’s cooperative through which women established a restaurant that will serve as a pilot project in Walgak. In order for women to successfully carry out any livelihood activities, they must have free time. Nuer women fetch water, gather firewood and prepare food—all of which consume most of their time and energy. This also restricts the time that women can devote to breastfeeding their children, which contributes to malnutrition. In order to deal with this problem and enable the cooperative to grow, traders in Walgak will loan women a grinding mill as part of the micro-lending activities. Once this is operational, time used for food preparation will be reduced and the food will be clean and nutritious. In addition to benefiting the cooperative, the traders will receive additional income.

As southern Sudan emerges from decades of war and reliance on aid, the shift to a more sustainable, development-oriented programming will take time. IMC is committed to this process and is aware that the current program must focus on longer-term strategies that will alleviate the burden of food insecurity in the years ahead. While this project still has more than six months to go, IMC already is showing effective and innovative strategies to improve food security for people most in need.