Over 8 million South Sudanese on verge of hunger – UN
The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has warned of a looming severe food insecurity in the country.
A report released yesterday by UNOCHA estimates that 8.3 million people, including refugees, are expected to experience severe food insecurity at the peak of the 2022 lean season (May-July).
The report notes that this figure represents a 7 per cent increase from 7.7 million in 2021. It stated that the 7 counties of most concern are Jonglei, Lakes, Unity and Warrap (specifically Greater Tonj), with the most extreme case being Fangak County in Jonglei State, where the situation is comparable to Pibor County in 2021.
It stated that food consumption gaps are extreme, and people have largely exhausted their emergency coping strategies.
In 2022, the precarious situation is expected to be further exacerbated by the country’s increasing humanitarian caseload, the expected increase in the duration of needs in the most affected areas and the projected further reduction in humanitarian assistance across the country.
“Food assistance is expected to decrease by 10 to 20 per cent from the already reduced levels in 2021” it stated.
It added that the current economic crisis is impacting people’s ability to access markets, while conflict, flooding and seasonal effects are limiting the flow of both commercial and humanitarian goods and services.
‘An estimated 2 million people, including 1.3 million children under the age of 5, and 676,000 pregnant and lactating women are expected to be at risk of acute malnourishment’.
Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) prevalence above the emergency threshold of 15 per cent was reported in people in twenty-six counties in six states (Jonglei, Unity, Warrap, Upper Nile, Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Eastern Equatoria). The leading cause of morbidity is malaria, followed by acute respiratory infections and acute watery diarrhoea.
In 2022, morbidity rates are expected to increase proportionally for each of these causes as they did in 2021, compared to 2020. People are at constant risk of an outbreak of infection. In the Bentiu IDP camp, the Hepatitis E virus continues to circulate, with an increased risk of spreading the disease to people outside the camp.
The report warns that continuation and increase in sub-national violence reported in many states across the country, including Jonglei, Lakes, Unity, Upper Nile, Warrap (particularly Greater Tonj) and Western Equatoria (notably Tambura), will likely continue to disrupt livelihoods and trade and contribute to an increase in humanitarian needs in 2022.
“Access to justice and the rule of law are limited for many people who experience crimes and violations. Gender-based violence (GBV) remains a threat; women and girls are exposed to risks when carrying out their routine activities, which is further exacerbated due to flooding that limits livelihood opportunities, for example, collection of firewood and charcoal production.
Findings from the various data review processes indicate that 8.9 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2022, compared to 8.3 million in 2021.
This increase is largely driven by compounded shocks triggered by continued conflict, widespread flooding, deepening food insecurity, inflation, high food prices, and lack of access to basic services.
“These 8.9 million people in need include 8.54 million South Sudanese women, men, girls and boys and 328,000 refugees and asylum seekers. Two million people are internally displaced; of these 1.4 million require urgent support, and 1.8 million are returnees, of these 1.2 million have urgent needs” the report stated.
It further highlights that the primary challenge driving needs is food insecurity or lack of food, which weakens people’s health and nutritional status and exposes them to greater protection risks. The other main challenge is lack of access to WASH services which increases the likelihood of water-borne diseases, malnutrition and school dropout.
As of December 2021, an estimated 5.3 million people were reached with some form of humanitarian assistance. However, to enable the response to people impacted by flooding, humanitarian organizations were compelled to the re-program in-country support, which resulted in a reduction of food assistance to internally displaced people, refugees and communities in acute food and livelihood crises.
The report notes that these unmet needs increased vulnerability for populations and more people are likely to experience severe food insecurity in 2022.
