United Nations Children Fund or UNICEF on Wednesday warns that lives of about a quarter of million children in South Sudan are at significant risk as food nutrition security deteriorates with worsening military confrontations in Upper Nile region.
In a statement the agency attributes the eminent food crisis to ongoing conflict and the shrinking economy.
The statement adds that the number of people facing severe food insecurity has almost doubled since the start of 2015 from 2.5 million to an estimated 4.6 million people including approximately 874 thousand children under the age of five.
UNICEF Representative in South Sudan Jonathan Veitch warns that children trapped by fighting without access to basic medical services and food would struggle to survive without an urgent resumption of humanitarian assistance in conflict-affected areas.
The statement says child malnutrition rates remain above the emergency threshold of 15 per cent in both conflict-affected and high-burden states.