January 10, 2025 07:20 pm (IST)

Make this your homepage

Foreign

Los Angeles wildfire toll climbs to 10, thousands of structures destroyed | 8 labourers still trapped in Assam's flooded mine even after 3 days of rescue ops | SC refuses to hear petitions seeking review of its same-sex marriage judgement, says there is 'no error' | 'They should wind up the alliance': Omar Abdullah on AAP-Congress fight over Delhi elections | Pune woman killed by her colleague in full public view for not paying back his money, no one intervenes | Los Angeles wildfire leaves 5 dead, forces 1 lakh including celebs to flee, Hollywood hills ablazed | PM Modi condoles death of six people in Tirupati stampede incident | Days after condemning Pak airstrikes, India in a first engages with Afghanistan's Taliban regime | 6 dead in stampede near Tirupati temple during token distribution to offer prayers | Prominent journalist-film producer Pritish Nandy dies of cardiac arrest at 73

UN agencies: South Sudan at risk of â€˜hunger catastropheâ€™

India Blooms News Service | | Jun 30, 2016, at 04:39 am

#hunger catastrophe #UN #South Sudan

New York, June 29 (Just Earth News): The level of food insecurity in South Sudan is at the highest since the start of the conflict two and a half years ago, United Nations agencies On Wednesday warned.

“Up to 4.8 million people in South Sudan – well over one-third of the population – will be facing severe food shortages over the coming months and the risk of a hunger catastrophe continues to threaten parts of the country,” according to a statement from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

The figure does not include some 350,000 displaced people seeking refuge at UN Protection of Civilians areas or other camps, who are entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance.

The figure comes from an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification update released On Wednesday by the Government, the three UN agencies and humanitarian partners. It is an upgrade to the previous number from April of 4.3 million people who were projected to be in urgent need of food, agriculture and nutrition.

“The deteriorating situation coincides with an unusually long and harsh annual lean season, when families have depleted their food stocks and new harvests are not expected until August,” the UN agencies said in the statement. “The level of food insecurity this year is unprecedented.”

The UN officials have said they are very worried about the food insecurity spreading beyond areas of conflict, as rising prices, impassable roads and dysfunctional markets prevent families from accessing food. Sharp spikes are being seen in Eastern Equatoria or Western Bahr el-Ghazal, whose capital, Wau, was the site of recent fighting recent fighting which uprooted tens of thousands of people.

Given the lack of access to food, child malnutrition is among the main concerns. More than 100,000 children treated for severe malnutrition since the start of the year – an increase of 150 per cent since 2014, according to UNICEF.

The three UN agencies said despite the difficult circumstances, they would work with international and local non-governmental organizations to deliver life- and livelihood-saving support.

Photo: FAO/UNHCR/Albert González Farran

Source: www.justearthnews.com

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.