United Nations (UN) humanitarian agencies have jointly warned that flood, drought, and conflict-affected communities in South Sudan are likely to starve if humanitarian efforts are not sustained in the country.
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) expressed their concerns in a statement.
According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), about two-thirds of the country’s population or 7.76 million people are likely to face acute food insecurity during the 2023 April-June lean season.
The report also estimates that 1.4 million children will be malnourished within the lean season.
Data from WFP reveals 8.3 million people are currently facing severe food insecurity with two million women and children under age five facing acute malnutrition.
The country’s decline in food security and high prevalence of malnutrition is linked to a combination of conflict, poor macroeconomic conditions, extreme climate events, and the spiralling cost of food and fuel.
‘We’ve been in famine prevention mode all year and have staved off the worst outcomes, but this is not enough’, Acting Country Director for WFP in South Sudan, Makena Walker, said.
‘South Sudan is on the frontlines of the climate crisis and day in, day out families are losing their homes, cattle, fields and hope to extreme weather.
‘Without humanitarian food assistance, millions more will find themselves in an increasingly dire situation and unable to provide even the most basic food for their families’.
While marginal improvements in food security have been recorded across some parts of the country, the nutrition crisis across South Sudan is deepening.
‘Over the past three years, floods have dramatically affected an increasing number of people across South Sudan’, UNICEF Acting Representative in South Sudan, Jesper Moller, added.
‘Among those impacted, we find a growing number of food-insecure and malnourished children, which the international community cannot ignore.
‘To effectively protect children from the effects of climate change, we must ensure we reach the most vulnerable children with an essential package of multi-sectoral social service interventions’.
Resourcing for the 2023 humanitarian response in South Sudan is urgently needed within the next few months to ensure millions of families do not experience hunger.
Source: UNICEF
Photo source: WFP
