South Sudan: UN agencies sound alarm over rising hunger

JUBA, South Sudan

Three UN organizations Friday called for immediate humanitarian access to parts of South Sudan’s Pibor County in Jonglei State, where people have run out of food and are facing catastrophic levels of hunger.

According to a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are scaling up their response, along with other humanitarian aid organizations.

The high levels of hunger are being driven by insecurity, the effects of COVID-19, the economic crisis, and the impact of flooding on livelihoods, the report said.

“Humanitarian assistance is needed to save lives and avert a total collapse of livelihoods in hard-to-reach areas. We call on all parties to stop the violence and to ensure safe humanitarian access in order to prevent an already dire situation from turning into a full-blown catastrophe,” said Meshack Malo, an FAO representative in South Sudan.

“We are extremely concerned about the increased numbers of children suffering from acute malnutrition. These children need urgent treatment to prevent them from dying. The data leave us with no doubt about the sense of urgency for all of us - government, donor community and humanitarian actors - to join hands and ensure all these children get the treatment they need. At the same time, we need to invest more in actions to prevent children from becoming malnourished in the first place,” said Mohamed Ayoya, a UNICEF representative in South Sudan.

Isaiah Chol Aruai, head of South Sudan’s National Bureau of Statistics, urged all stakeholders to ramp up efforts in the coming months to prevent further deterioration of the food security and nutrition situation in the country.

'Coming year extremely tough'

“WFP is extremely worried about the rising number of people suffering because of the lack of sufficient food and nutrition, intensified conflict, unprecedented flooding and high food prices. The coming year will be extremely tough, but we are determined to do all we can to reach more people for longer periods of time,” said Makena Walker, deputy country director for WFP in South Sudan.

The report estimated that between October and November, 6.5 million people in South Sudan faced severe food insecurity and are in need of urgent assistance. This number is projected to grow to 7.24 million between April and July 2021.

Around 1.4 million children aged between 6 months and 5 years are expected to be acutely malnourished in 2021 and will need life-saving treatment, according to the report.