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SOUTH SUDAN / FAMINE
STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / FAMINE
TRT: 1:19
SOURCE: UNICEF /FILE
RESTRICTIONS: CREDIT UNICEF FOOTAGE ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: NATS
DATELINE: 25-26 JULY 2016 JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Wide shot, women and children wait outside a hospital
2. Wide shot, women and children wait in a hospital
3. Close up, malnourished children in clinic
4. Med shot, malnourished children in clinic
5. Med shot, malnourished children in clinic
6. Med shot, doctor exams a malnourished child
7. Wide shot, mothers and their children wait in line
8. Close up, health worker organizing aid
9. Med shot, mother receiving aid
10. Med shot, mother helping her malnourished daughter walk
11. Medium; mother giving her malnourished daughter a bath
12. Med shot, mother carrying her malnourished daughter
13. Med shot, mother sitting and waiting in hospital
14. Close up, mother massaging her malnourished daughter
15. Close up, mother holds her malnourished daughter
16. Tilt up, malnourished child being weighed
17. Med shot, mother holds her malnourished daughter
18. Close up, mother holds her malnourished daughter
19. Med shot, mother holds her malnourished daughter
20. Wide shot, mother and her malnourished daughter leave the hospital
Three UN agencies have warned that war and a collapsing economy have left some 100,000 people facing starvation in parts of South Sudan where famine was declared today (20 Feb).
A further 1 million people are on the brink of famine. The situation is the worst hunger catastrophe since fighting re-erupted in the country more than three years ago.
The total number of food insecure people is expected to rise to 5.5 million at the height of the lean season in July if nothing is done to curb the severity and spread of the food crisis.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) also called for urgent action to prevent more people from dying of hunger. If sustained and adequate assistance is delivered urgently, the situation can be improved in the coming months and further suffering mitigated. Unimpeded humanitarian access to everyone facing famine, or at risk of famine, is urgently needed to reverse the escalating catastrophe.
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) update released today by the government, the three agencies and other humanitarian partners, 4.9 million people – more than 40 percent of South Sudan’s population – are in need of urgent food, agriculture and nutrition assistance.
Famine is currently affecting parts of Unity State in the northern-central part of the country. A formal famine declaration means people have already started dying of hunger.
Malnutrition is a major public health emergency, exacerbated by the widespread fighting, displacement, poor access to health services and low coverage of sanitation facilities. The IPC report estimates that 14 of the 23 assessed counties have global acute malnutrition (GAM) at or above the emergency threshold of 15 percent, with some areas as high as 42 percent.
Across the country, three years of conflict have severely undermined crop production and rural livelihoods. The upsurge in violence since July 2016 has further devastated food production, including in previously stable areas. Soaring inflation – up to 800 percent year-on-year – and market failure have also hit areas that traditionally rely on markets to meet food needs. Urban populations are also struggling to cope with massive price rises on basic food items.
FAO, UNICEF and WFP, with other partners, have conducted massive relief operations since the conflict began, and intensified those efforts throughout 2016 to mitigate the worst effects of the humanitarian crisis. In Northern Bahr El Ghazal state, among others, the IPC assessment team found that humanitarian relief had lessened the risk of famine there.
FAO has provided emergency livelihood kits to more than 2.3 million people to help them fish or plant vegetables. FAO has also vaccinated more than 6 million livestock such as goats and sheep to prevent further loss.
WFP continues to scale up its support in South Sudan as humanitarian needs increase, and plans to provide food and nutrition assistance to 4.1 million people through the hunger season in South Sudan this year. This includes lifesaving emergency food, cash and nutrition assistance for people displaced and affected by conflict, as well as community-based recovery or resilience programs and school meals.
In 2016, WFP reached a record 4 million people in South Sudan with food assistance — including cash assistance amounting to US$13.8 million, and more than 265,000 metric tons of food and nutrition supplies. It is the largest number of people assisted by WFP in South Sudan since independence, despite problems resulting from the challenging context.
UNICEF aims to treat 207,000 children for severe acute malnutrition in 2017.
Working with over 40 partners and in close collaboration with WFP, UNICEF is supporting 620 outpatient therapeutic programme sites and about 50 inpatient therapeutic sites across the country to provide children with urgently needed treatment for malnutrition as well as provide them with immunization services, safe water and sanitation which also prevents recurring malnutrition.
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