Malnutrition is the disparity between the amount of food and nutrients the body needs and the amount that it is actually receiving. This imbalance is usually caused by under-nutrition.

Southern Sudan has emerged from a 21-year civil war with a rural economy that was destroyed during the fighting. During the months of May and August, the months before the next harvest, when the previous year's food has already run out, malnutrition is chronic. To make things worse, lack of access to clean water and nearly total absence of primary healthcare makes children very vulnerable.

The Duk Lost Boys Clinic combats malnutrition by treating parasites that cause abdominal pain and bloating and stunt growth. Most photos of children

     Malnutrition levels in Southern Sudan are alarmingly high and

     have been above the emergency threshold for the past

     three years.

with distended stomachs are due to parasites and malnutrition. Our American doctors have done mass campaigns while working at the clinic to eradicate parasites in whole villages by mass administration of medicine, which should be done every 3-6 months in areas with unpure water supply. The parasites come in part from unclean drinking water.

Another way the Duk Lost Boys Clinic supports nutrition is by providing vitamins and prenatal care to pregnant mothers so that they give birth to healthier babies. It also supports nutrition by re-hydrating people with rehydration salts after they become dehydrated due to infectious diarrhea (examples include: salmonella, shigella, cholera if there were an outbreak, amoebas).