Unprecedented level of food insecurity in South Sudan, UN agencies say JUBA (7 Jul.)
Up to 4.8 million people in South Sudan will face severe food shortages and a hunger catastrophe in coming months, three UN agencies said last week. The current deterioration in food security and nutrition is primarily due to physical insecurity, the economic crisis, and depleted stocks from the last harvest, Dr Lam Akol, the Minister of Agriculture said at a news conference. "The overall food and nutrition security situation has deteriorated in many parts of the country with an estimated 4.3 million people” at risk of food insecurity, Akol said, and is estimated to increase to 4.8 million in the coming weeks. He said that number is about one million higher than around this time last year. "We are now seeing sharp spikes of need in new areas, such as Eastern Equatoria or Western Bahr El Ghazal where malnutrition rates in some places are reaching dangerous levels,” said WFP country director Joyce Luma during a news conference. “We have started ramping up food and nutrition support, but much more is needed to keep things from deteriorating even further during the lean season,” The worst affected populations are likely to include the displaced, returning households, and low income earners. Approximately 300,000 food insecure people are living in urban environments like Juba, Wau and Aweil towns. Atoll said that if the peace agreement is implemented and the transitional government begins to function, it is expected that the food security situation would gradually improve. He also urged all actors to increase efforts in the lean months to prevent food insecurity or malnutrition. "We are very worried to see that food insecurity is spreading beyond conflict areas as rising prices, impassable roads and dysfunctional markets are preventing many families, even those in towns and cities, from accessing food," said FAO Country Representative Serge Tissot. -- To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/southsudankob View this message at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/southsudankob/topic-id/message-id For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14or2%2B49-Ssj3xhMC%2Bc7jX6WohegPD6dgVfhJ07pqE9WWvw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
