South Sudan: Rising food insecurity can push over 7 million people into hunger

"Amongst the 7 million people going hungry, 1.7 million people are estimated to be battling emergency levels of hunger across 35 counties, with areas of greatest concern concentrated in Jonglei, Unity, Lakes, Warrap, and Upper Nile.”

Amidst the pandemic, South Sudan is highly vulnerable to the rising peril of famine which could push over 7 million of its people into hunger, according to a report by Relief Web.

As reported, the counties in South Sudan is heading towards food insecurity, since the pandemic has made the civilians storming into the crises, due to recurring floods, economic strains, and COVID-19 at the top. Observing the acute situation in the country, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is unduly concerned, as per the report. As noted in the IRC's Watchlist to 2021, the country bears a grave risk of famine in 2021 as it can affect more than sixty percent of the population of South Sudan.

However, IRC is reaching out for a scale-up in international monetary support and progress in access for food assistance for the country to prevent famine.

Speaking on the graveness, Caroline Sekyewa, the Country Director of IRC, South Sudan, said, "people in South Sudan were already struggling to access food. This year, counties are experiencing the impact of years of conflict, and peace is still extremely fragile. Further, an economic crisis, flooding and COVID-19 is forcing more people to go hungry as they lose their livelihoods and ability to feed their families. COVID-19-induced economic downturns and drops in oil prices are constraining the new government's ability to implement the peace deal, whose implementation is already heavily delayed. South Sudan is the tenth deadliest country for civilians in the world - though many incidents likely go unreported."

Sekyewa noted the households who are experiencing the condition, saying, "it is estimated that 11,000 people are experiencing famine and this is likely amongst households where recent conflict and two consecutive years of severe floods are exhausting coping capacity. Due to the combined impact of devastating floods, conflict, and worsening economic conditions, most households are not able to meet their basic food needs or are using extremely detrimental strategies to cope. Amongst the 7 million people going hungry, 1.7 million people are estimated to be battling emergency levels of hunger across 35 counties, with areas of greatest concern concentrated in Jonglei, Unity, Lakes, Warrap, and Upper Nile."

"Going into 2021, the 2018 peace deal remains fragile and even if it holds, conflict will continue, with civilian populations and humanitarians caught in the middle. Civilians and aid workers continue to face harm. Experts recorded over 500 fatalities in 'violence against civilians' incidents in the first nine months of 2020. COVID-19 threatens to exacerbate the country's health crises, given its extremely low coping capacity. More than half of the population has no access to primary health services, which, alongside limited access to clean water, poor sanitation services and extremely low immunization rates, has left the population highly susceptible to diseases like COVID-19. IRC calls on more support and funding for people in South Sudan as food insecurity threatens lives", Sekyewa added.

The IRC is reportedly one of the largest aid providers in South Sudan which is now operating for over 30 years in the country and has been delivering emergency assistance and provides aid to vulnerable populations in hard-to-reach areas.