Food is Medicine

Hippocrates once said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” In South Sudan, these words ring especially true. Last week, hundreds of malnourished children were given the gift of food at the Panthou Primary Health Care Center as part of GEMS Development Foundation’s initiative to supplement patients’ families with sorghum for their dietary needs.

Around 45% of 12 million children deaths (0–5 years old) annually are due to malnutrition, mostly from developing countries.

Malnutrition is a mitigating factor in most childhood deaths in South Sudan. Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) weakens the immune system, which leaves children more susceptible to diseases like measles and malaria. With little reserves, a simple stomach illness that causes diarrhea in a child suffering from malnutrition can turn deadly.

Mothers sit on sorghum bags recently provided by GEMS Development Foundation

The hunger gap is the time period between when the rains stop and allow crops to be replanted and the time of the harvest. The last several years have seen the rainy season flooding become so severe that farms are lost for the planting season, unable to be replanted. The less grain supply there is, the higher the prices are driven in the market, creating impossible conditions for those who are already undernourished. Poverty, food prices and hunger are inextricably linked.

Mothers wait for sorghum distribution in Gabat, South Sudan

Your donation can help a family survive the harsh realities of life in South Sudan. Recently impacted by the effects of climate extremes and the war in neighboring Sudan, resources are minimal and access to them for many is impossible. GEMS Development Foundation is committed to helping one of the world’s most vulnerable populations, and your gift makes a critical difference in our efforts.