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STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / FAMINE WARNING
TRT: 03:05
SOURCE: WFP / UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: FILE, SOUTH SUDAN
WFP - 25 SEPTEMBER 2015, KOCH COUNTY, UNITY STATE, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Aerial shot, countryside
2. Wide shot, helicopter landing
3. Med shot, kid on the ground
4. Various shots, mothers with children
5. Med shot, weighing a kid
6. Close up, measuring a kid
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Luma, WFP South Sudan Country Director:
“These people don’t have adequate nutrition, they don’t have adequate access to food, In most cases when they are fleeing and when they have moved to locations which they call safe haven, the only thing that they can rely on are the roots from the swamps, and so they have very limited amount of food and what we are seeing now are famine like conditions in those locations where humanitarian assistance, where agencies like us, WFP, have not been able to go.”
WFP - 25 JULY 2015, DABLUAL, UNITY STATE, SOUTH SUDAN
8. Pan left, plane dropping supplies
9. Various shots, food distribution
UNICEF - 3 JULY 2015, BENTIU POC, SOUTH SUDAN
10. Wide shot, sunrise over Bentiu camp
11. Wide shot, sunrise over Bentiu camp
UNICEF - 14 JULY 2015, BOR POC, SOUTH SUDAN
12. Wide shot, girl walking into UNICEF nutrition clinic
13. Med shot, girl and others waiting
14. Med shot, clinician measuring the arm circumference of a baby
15. Close up shot, clinician measuring the arm circumference of a baby
16. Med shot, mother carrying baby to scale
17. Various shots of baby being weighed
18. Close up shot, scale
19. Close up shot, clinician doing paperwork
20. Close up shot, plumpy nut box.
21. Close up shot, baby eating plumpy nut
UNICEF - 3 JULY 2015, BENTIU POC, SOUTH SUDAN
22. Wide shot, people walking through Bentiu POC
Three UN agencies today warned that extreme hunger is pushing people to the brink of a catastrophe in parts of South Sudan, as a new analysis found that 3.9 million people nationwide now face severe food insecurity.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) called on the parties to the conflict to grant urgent and unrestricted access to Unity State, where a newly released Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis shows that at least 30,000 people are living in extreme conditions and are facing starvation and death. Since the war in South Sudan started nearly two years ago, it is the first time that an IPC analysis has found any parts of the population in phase five (“catastrophe”) on the five-point IPC scale.
“This is the start of the harvest and we should be seeing a significant improvement in the food security situation across the country, but unfortunately this is not the case in places like southern Unity State, where people are on the edge of a catastrophe that can be prevented,” said WFP Country Director Joyce Luma. “The people of South Sudan need peace, nutritious food and other humanitarian assistance and livelihood support to survive and rebuild their lives," she added.
Unless unrestricted humanitarian access is urgently granted, the agencies said, food insecurity could deteriorate to famine in parts of Unity State, where humanitarian assistance has been hampered by the dreadful violence and lack of access in recent months. Some displaced families say they survive on just one meal a day consisting of only fish and water lilies.
Joyce Luma, WFP South Sudan Country Director said “these people don’t have adequate nutrition, they don’t have adequate access to food, In most cases when they are fleeing and when they have moved to locations which they call safe haven, the only thing that they can rely on are the roots from the swamps, and so they have very limited amount of food and what we are seeing now are famine like conditions in those locations where humanitarian assistance, where agencies like us, WFP, have not been able to go.”
Throughout the country, the IPC analysis indicates that 3.9 million people in South Sudan face severe hunger. Although the number of food insecure households has decreased - as expected - during the harvest season, it is almost 80 percent higher than in the same period last year, as even people living in states not directly affected by the conflict struggle with its long-term effects, erratic rainfall, depleted livelihood options, high food prices, fuel costs and inflation, in a generally degraded economic environment.
In addition, the IPC highlights that the overall nutrition situation remains critical, with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) among children under 5 above the emergency threshold in the conflict-affected states of Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity in September, and high in Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Warrap throughout the year. The high prevalence is attributed to inadequate food consumption, poor maternal and child feeding practices, illnesses and limited delivery of health and nutrition services.
The three agencies – which work on food security and nutrition – warned that the dire economic situation in the country is contributing to record-high food prices that significantly affect families’ purchasing power and worsening levels of food insecurity. Even areas previously unaffected are now showing signs of severe deterioration, with large proportions of the population in Greater Bahr el Ghazal states in food security crisis.
UNICEF, WFP and FAO, together with other UN and NGO partners, are reaching millions of people with lifesaving food, nutrition aid and emergency livelihood kits. The rapid response missions channel assistance to many remote areas otherwise cut from humanitarian relief. Quick support for local food production contributes to the longer-term food security of the most affected people. The agencies called on the international community to provide the resources needed to sustain and expand those lifesaving efforts.
