March 2, 2015
Khartoum, Sudan – The United States is fighting malnutrition in Sudan through an innovative partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and a local peanut processing facility that produces a product used to treat severe acute malnutrition in children under age five. In Sudan, more than 2 million children need nutrition assistance, including 550,000 who suffer from severe acute malnutrition.
In fiscal year 2014, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided more than US$7.9 million in food and nutrition assistance to UNICEF in Sudan , including US$1.7 million to purchase locally produced Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) from the Samil Industrial Company. Based in Khartoum since 2011, Samil is a state-of-the-art peanut processing center and factory that produces RUTF, or Plumpy’Nut®, which is used worldwide to treat severe acute malnutrition in children under age five.
With USAID’s contribution, UNICEF purchased 22,000 cartons of RUTF from Samil to nourish 22,000 children, including many displaced by increased conflict in Darfur and South Kordofan and refugees from South Sudan. USAID and UNICEF’s partnership with Samil provides jobs for Sudanese peanut farmers and manufacturers and encourages local supply chain improvements and quality control of peanut production.
In 2014, UNICEF treated 140,000 children under age five suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Sudan. The United States remains committed to the Sudanese people, and continues to work to improve nutrition and fight food insecurity in Sudan. In fiscal year 2014, the United States contributed more than US$297 million in humanitarian assistance to UNICEF and other international organizations.
