UN alerts to growing hunger crisis in South Sudan

More than half of South Sudan's population will experience acute food insecurity through the upcoming lean season, which begins in April 2024, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report released on Monday.

The report reveals that 57% of South Sudanese will face serious food insecurity, exacerbated by the influx of refugees fleeing the ongoing conflict in neighboring Sudan, News.Az reports, citing ReliefWeb portal.

Among the most vulnerable are young children, who are expected to suffer from some of the highest levels of hunger and malnutrition.

Mary-Ellen McGroarty, the country director for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in South Sudan, emphasized that both conflict and climate-related crises are major contributors to the hunger crisis in the world’s youngest country.

“To achieve zero hunger in South Sudan, it is crucial to address the root causes of food insecurity,” McGroarty said in a joint statement from WFP, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). “Communities need peace, stability, and the opportunity to rebuild their livelihoods to better withstand future shocks.”

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has also reported that around 1.4 million people have been affected by severe flooding across several counties in the country.

Many communities are expected to face heightened hunger due to a combination of prolonged dry spells, ongoing flooding, and persistent conflict, all of which are expected to worsen the already dire food insecurity in the country.

The statement said almost 2.1 million children are at risk of malnutrition, up from 1.65 million.

‘‘Children are returning to nutrition centres multiple times throughout the year as they continue to suffer from poor access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Illness is a major contributing factor to their malnutrition,’’ it said.

UNICEF’s representative in South Sudan, Hamida Lasseko, said they are deeply concerned that the number of children and mothers at risk of malnutrition will continue to increase unless efforts to prevent malnutrition by addressing its root causes are scaled up, alongside the provision of immediate nutrition support to treat malnutrition among children who are at higher risk of death.

News.Az