December 14, 2024 02:23 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Bengaluru techie suicide: Karnataka Police issues summons to wife Nikita, her family members | French President Macron appoints centrist leader Francois Bayrou as new Prime Minister | Congress always prioritised personal interest over Constitution: Rajnath Singh | Jaishankar calls attack on Hindus in Bangladesh 'a source of concern' | Allu Arjun arrested over woman's death in stampede during Pushpa 2 premiere show | RBI receives bomb threat in Russian language, case filed | UP teenager kills mother, lives with body for 5 days | At least six people including a child killed in Tamil Nadu hospital fire | Amid Atul Subhash row, SC says mere harassment is not enough to prove abetment to suicide | India's D Gukesh becomes youngest ever world champion in chess
South Sudan
Photo Courtesy: WFP/Eulalia Berlanga

Looming hunger emergency for South Sudanese families fleeing war

| @indiablooms | Oct 04, 2023, at 08:41 pm

A hunger emergency is looming for scores of South Sudanese families fleeing the war in Sudan, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday.

Nearly 300,000 people have arrived in South Sudan since the conflict began across the border in mid-April, most of whom are returnees. 

Among them, one in five children is malnourished and 90 per cent of families are experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity.

Screening data from the border crossing also revealed that more than a quarter of pregnant and breastfeeding women are malnourished.

Fleeing danger, finding disaster

“We are seeing families leave one disaster for another as they flee danger in Sudan only to find despair in South Sudan,” said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP’s Country Director in South Sudan.

The returnees are coming back to a country that is already facing unprecedented humanitarian needs. 

Years of conflict, violence, food insecurity, climate impacts and public health challenges have left some 9.4 million people in need of protection and assistance, according to the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA.

Robbed on the run

WFP said the rainy season has made conditions at crowded transit centres and border crossings even more difficult as flooding is worsening food insecurity and contributing to the spread of disease.

Many families also report being robbed and experiencing violence as they escaped from Sudan with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Families arriving now are in an even more vulnerable condition than those who fled in the early weeks of the conflict.

WFP is providing food assistance at the border, delivering hot meals, high-energy biscuits, dry rations, and cash-based transfers.  Children and mothers are also receiving specialized nutrition support.

Mounting needs, dwindling funds

“The humanitarian situation for returnees is unacceptable and WFP is struggling to meet the mounting humanitarian needs at the border,” said Ms. McGroarty. “We simply do not have the resources to provide life-saving assistance to those who need it most.”

WFP urgently requires more than $120 million to ramp up support over the next few months. Significant resources are also needed to help people move onwards from the crowded border area and to support returnees as they rebuild their lives in a country where many have never actually lived.

Across South Sudan, WFP has a funding gap of $536 million over the next six months and has only reached 40 per cent of food insecure people with assistance.  Furthermore, these beneficiaries are only receiving half rations due to funding shortfalls, which is further entrenching food insecurity.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Related Images
Xi Jinping, Putin in Russia Mar 22, 2023, at 08:26 pm