OVER HALF OF SOUTH SUDAN’S POPULATION IN HUNGER: UN HUMANITARIANS

Sat 16 December 2023:

More than half of South Sudan’s population is starving, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Monday.

An estimated 1.6 million children are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition through June of 2024, the office said.

It added that this year’s humanitarian appeal to help 7.4 million people in South Sudan is just half funded, with about 1 billion U.S. dollars received, forcing humanitarians to halve rations and reduce support due to the funding cuts.

In a joint statement, the UN famine prevention and response coordinator, Reena Ghelani, and the UN’s acting humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, Martie Helene Verney, said the world could not turn a blind eye to the extreme situations of food insecurity and malnutrition in South Sudan.

“Climate change, conflict and economic hardship are pushing millions of people further into food insecurity,” said the statement. “Extreme levels of food insecurity and malnutrition make South Sudan one of the worst food insecurity emergencies in the world.”

It said about 25,000 people, including many of the refugees fleeing the conflict in Sudan, are experiencing catastrophic starvation, and the number could rise to nearly 80,000 in the coming months unless urgent support is provided. About 7.1 million people, or 56 percent of the population, are suffering from high food insecurity, the worst in the world.

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