MEMBER'S PHOTOS
Photo: Gina Bramucci/AVSI
Thousands of children walk several kilometres each evening to sleep in the perceived safety of urban centres, hospital grounds or Catholic missions. They sleep in the open, the most fortunate clinging to blankets and plastic sheeting to protect from rain.
Photo: Gina Bramucci/AVSI
More than 700 children, displaced from their schools, now take shelter at the Catholic mission in Kitgum, northern Uganda. Parents, hoping to protect their children from rebel abduction, arrive daily asking the mission to provide a safe haven. 
Photo: Gina Bramucci/AVSI
Congested living conditions led to an outbreak of scabies at the Kitgum mission in June. With the cooperation of the Comboni missionaries and district authorities, AVSI organised a day of washing and medicating 657 children, many of whom already had open sores from the disease. The children received new blankets and clothing after all infested materials were burned. 
Photo: Gina Bramucci/AVSI
With the children's ward running at three times its capacity at St. Joseph's Hospital in Kitgum, mothers and children take shelter from the midday sun in the small chapel, on verandas and under trees. Most rural health units have been closed or burned by rebels, leaving hospitals to respond to the needs of Kitgum, Pader and Gulu districts, as well as patients from southern Sudan.
Photo: Gina Bramucci/AVSI
The number of deaths due to severe anaemia is alarmingly high, with one hospital reporting that between 10 and 15 children die each month due to a lack of blood. Illnesses such as malaria and diarrhoea take their toll, while malnutrition rates continue to climb. 
Photo: Gina Bramucci/AVSI
Displaced people living in camps confront a constant threat from rebels, unhygienic conditions, disease outbreak and looming food shortages. A current survey in camps in Gulu district indicates acute global malnutrition of 6.5 percent in children under five.
