Floods Deepen Hunger in Unity State
Seasonal floods have turned Rubkona’s grasslands into vast pools, cutting farms from families and pushing residents toward humanitarian rations.
The 2025 IPC analysis warned that acute malnutrition in Unity had crossed crisis lines, with Guit, Rubkona and Mayiendit counties topping emergency charts.
Hospital Program Becomes Lifeline
At Bentiu Hospital, a coalition of the State Ministry of Health, UNICEF and World Relief delivers therapeutic food, antibiotics and counseling around the clock.
Young mothers say they arrive with frail children and leave with toddlers eager to stand; the ward’s bright peanut-paste sachets now symbolize survival.
Mothers of Resilience
Nyewar Pan Wiey, 22, recalls twins who “were extremely malnourished,” yet after July admission both gained weight and energy thanks to daily feeds and health talks.
Her neighbor, 26-year-old Nyachot Gatluak Ruai, believes early referral saved her son from lethal wasting: “Without the center my child would not be alive,” she told reporters.
Data Behind the Turnaround
Rubkona admits about 768 severely and 485 moderately malnourished children weekly, yet recovery at stabilization sites now exceeds 99 percent, according to county statistics.
Across Unity, partners treat roughly 3,072 SAM cases monthly, with only five percent needing 24-hour inpatient care, a figure officials credit to community outreach and prompt triage.
Sustaining the Gains
The Health Sector Transformational Project supports extra doctors, maternal surgery and mobile clinics, bringing confidence to families displaced by water or conflict.
County Health Director Dor Gai Patai says seeing mothers queue “to collect medication and services” proves that integrated health-nutrition delivery can outpace rising need.
UNICEF officer David Kidega Ojok Okumu agrees, warning that without the pipeline of ready-to-use foods many flood-marooned villages would face child mortality spikes.
For Rubkona’s parents the program means more than survival; it signals a future where children can return to schoolyards instead of wards.