Acute food insecurity to hit most people in South Sudan next year, says UN

Almost 7.7 million people will be classified as acutely food insecure in the world’s youngest nation as it grapples with floods and war.

Almost 60 percent of South Sudan’s population will be acutely food insecure next year, with more than two million children at risk of malnutrition, warns data from a United Nations-backed review.

The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) review published on Monday estimated that starting in April, 57 percent of the population would be suffering from acute food insecurity, which the UN defines as when a “person’s inability to consume adequate food puts their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger”.

Almost 7.7 million people will be classed as acutely food insecure, according to the IPC, an increase from 7.1 million people the previous lean season.

“Year after year, we see hunger reaching some of the highest levels we’ve seen in South Sudan,” said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, the country director for the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP).

“When we look at the areas with the highest levels of food insecurity, it’s clear that a cocktail of despair – conflict and the climate crisis – are the main drivers,” she said.

South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, is among the globe’s poorest and is grappling with its worst flooding in decades as well as a massive influx of refugees fleeing the war in Sudan to the north.

More than 85 percent of returnees fleeing the war in Sudan will be acutely food insecure from April, found the data, which also determined that 2.1 million children are at risk of malnutrition, compounded by a lack of safe drinking water and sanitation.

“Malnutrition is the end result of a series of crises,” said Hamida Lasseko, the representative for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in South Sudan, adding that the agency was “deeply concerned” that the numbers would increase if aid was not stepped up.

In October, the World Bank warned widespread flooding was “worsening an already critical humanitarian situation”.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said earlier this month that 1.4 million people had been impacted by the flooding, which had displaced almost 380,000.

Since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has remained plagued by chronic instability, violence and economic stagnation as well as climate disasters such as drought and floods. It also faces another period of political paralysis after the government delayed elections by two years to December 2026, exasperating international partners.

South Sudan boasts plentiful oil resources, but a vital source of revenue was decimated in February when an export pipeline was damaged in neighbouring war-torn Sudan.