Over seven million people in South Sudan could become severely food insecure in the coming months without sustained humanitarian aid and access, warn United Nations agencies.
In a statement, Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, UNICEF and World Food Program say South Sudan is at risk of rising hunger.
‘If this happens, this will be the highest ever number of food insecure people in South Sudan’.
The period of greatest risk will be between May and July, including 29,000 children, who could suffer from the most extreme levels of hunger, the agencies add.
The agencies warn that progress made to prevent people from dying of hunger could not be done and more people could be pushed into severe hunger than ever.
‘The situation is extremely fragile, and we are close to seeing another famine’, say the UN agencies.
Serge Tissot, FAO Representative in South Sudan believes that rapid improvement in food security situation can be realize if farmers receive support to resume their livelihoods and increase production.
‘The situation is deteriorating with each year of conflict as more people lose the little they had, says Adnan Khan, WFP Representative and Country Director.
UNICEF’s Representative in South Sudan, Mahimbo Mdoe warns of severe malnutrition among children and many deaths than before.
The official worries that the rains will make the roads unusable and become more difficult to deliver supplies to medical centres.