Healthcare Innovations Won’t Cure Global Health Inequality – Political Action Will

A health worker measures the arm of 3-year-old Nyarony Choing as she sits in her mother’s lap, inside their family’s makeshift shelter at the Protection of Civilians (PoC) site on the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) base in the city of Malakal, capital of Upper Nile State. The measurement, using a mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) band, is taken to determine nutrition status during emergencies. The red section of the armband indicates that Nyarony is severely malnourished. Nyarony was admitted to the outpatient nutrition centre at the International Medical Corps clinic at the PoC site two weeks ago. Her mother, Nyabac Chan Yor, originally fled to Malakal from Juba with Nyarony and her three siblings in December 2013. They afterwards travelled to the town of Kodok, where Nyarony was admitted to the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) hospital, with oedema (swelling caused by an excessive build-up of fluid in the body’s tissues) in both feet – a sign of severe acute malnutrition. She subsequently was referred to the UNMISS site in Malakal for further medical care. All of Ms. Chan Yor’s important documents, including her ration card and referral papers, were lost during flooding (from recent heavy rains) at the site. “During the rain, this house becomes full of water,” she said. “My husband is in Juba, and sometimes the money he sends doesn’t arrive. I need the food rations. There is no way to change [move from] this place and go to another place. I have nowhere to go, it’s all I have. The only thing that disturbs me more is the condition of my child”. In mid-August 2014 in South Sudan, 1.3 million people have been displaced since resurgent conflict erupted in mid-December 2013. An estimated 695,172 of the displaced are children. Some 442,600 people have also sought refuge in neighbouring countries. The conflict has also worsened the nutrition situation in South Sudan. Nearly 1 million children under age