Two children have died and three adults hospitalized in suspected food poisoning Aweil Center, Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, at the weekend.
On Saturday two boys aged five and eight died after eating “well-cooked” food, according to doctors.
Wol Wol Akeen, medical doctor at Aweil Civil Hospital, says the four children and their mother had spent four days before taking the tree leaves that later poisoned them.
“The family had gone for four days without food when the mother decided to go and get some tree leaves believed to be akuor in Dinka,” Wol told Akol Yam FM.
“After the family ate it, they fainted and one child of eight years died on spot and then the other one died after reaching the hospital.”
He further said the other three family members are “are still in bad condition but we believe soon they will be fine”.
In 2022, a similar incident happened in Aweil East County where three children died.
More than 7.8 million people in South Sudan are projected to fall short of their minimum food needs in 2023, said International Rescue Committee in April.
This, it argued, is a substantial increase from the 6.3 million people who faced food insecurity in 2022. South Sudan may experience greater widespread hunger and starvation than during its civil war.