By Philip Buda Ladu/WFP
The World Food program (WFP) has announced suspension of humanitarian food assistance to one-third of the hunger stricken South Sudanese population over funding shortfalls, worsening the risk of starvation to 1.7 million citizens.
The WFP announced the suspension of the humanitarian food aid to the acutely food insecure South Sudanese on Tuesday the 14th of June 2022 in a press release published on its website,
The suspension of aid by the WFP came at the worst possible time for the people of South Sudan as the country faces a year of unprecedented hunger.
Over 60 percent of the population are grappling with severe food insecurity during the lean season, fuelled by continuing conflict, severe flooding, localized drought, and soaring food prices exacerbated by the crisis in Ukraine said the World Food Program.
“We are extremely concerned about the impact of the funding cuts on children, women and men who will not have enough to eat during the lean season. These families have completely exhausted their coping strategies. They need immediate humanitarian assistance to put food on the table in the short-term and to rebuild their livelihoods and resilience to cope with future shocks,” said Adeyinka Badejo, the Acting Country Director of the World Food Program in South Sudan.
“Humanitarian needs are far exceeding the funding we have received this year. If this continues, we will face bigger and more costly problems in the future, including increased mortality, malnutrition, stunting, and disease,” said Badejo.
The WFP said it had exhausted all options before suspending food assistance, including halving rations in 2021, leaving families in need with less food to eat.
“These latest reductions to assistance will also impact 178,000 schoolchildren who will no longer receive daily school meals – a crucial safety net that helps keep South Sudanese children in school to learn and grow” the WFP stressed.
WFP warned that more drastic reductions will be unavoidable, unless more funding is received, which will leave vulnerable people unable to meet their basic food needs and reverting to survival strategies such as skipping or reducing meals, selling assets, using child labor and child marriage.
WFP’s crisis response and resilience-building development programs are drastically underfunded this year, according to the UN agency. WFP requires US$ 426 million dollars to reach six million food insecure people through 2022.
In 2022, food insecurity in South Sudan is alarmingly high. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment warned that 7.74 million people will face severe acute hunger at the height of the lean season between June and August, while 1.4 million children will be acutely malnourished.
WFP said it’s prioritizing its limited food assistance to reach 4.5 million people struggling with severe hunger across 52 counties in South Sudan, including 87,000 people in eight counties already experiencing catastrophic hunger and living in famine-like conditions.
A WFP food ration includes cereals, pulses, vegetable oil and salt.
This year, WFP noted that it planned to reach six million food-insecure people in South Sudan with food assistance, nutrition support, cash stipends and livelihoods opportunities to build the resilience of communities–prioritizing the most vulnerable and conflict-affected women, children, and the elderly.
The United Nations World Food Program is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.