South Sudan: Food Assistance Fact Sheet - December 7, 2017

SITUATION

After nearly four years of civil conflict, South Sudan remains one of the most food-insecure countries in the world. By the end of the lean season in September—the period of the year when food is most scarce—approximately 56 percent of the country’s population was facing life-threatening hunger and in need of humanitarian assistance, making 2017 the most food-insecure year in South Sudan’s history.

• Despite slight improvements in food availability due to seasonal harvests from October to December, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) projects that 2018 lean season will begin in January, three months earlier than usual. Food security is expected to deteriorate through March, with nearly half of the population already facing Crisis (IPC 3) or worse levels of acute food insecurity.*

• Ongoing conflict has severely affected areas of Jonglei State and the Greater Bahr El Ghazal and Greater Equatoria regions, resulting in approximately 25,000 people experiencing Humanitarian Catastrophe levels of acute food insecurity—or famine at the household level— meaning that starvation, destitution and death are evident.
  SOUTH SUDAN Updated December 7, 2017

• A sustained and unimpeded humanitarian response is critical to saving lives and preventing a deterioration to Famine (IPC 5) levels of acute food insecurity. Since the start of the conflict, the Office of Food for Peace (FFP) and its partners—including the UN World Food Program (WFP) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)—have addressed the needs of South Sudan’s most vulnerable and conflict-affected populations through emergency food and nutrition interventions. In FY 2017, FFP-supported programs provided life-saving food assistance to 1.1 million people per month, on average.

• FFP also partners with Catholic Relief Services to support food security and livelihoods interventions, including providing agricultural training for farming households and expanding access to safe drinking water, in Jonglei State. $528.4 million 262,312 MT $306.3 million 173,087 MT $320.9 million 130,770 MT

• As of December 2017, approximately 2.1 million refugees have fled South Sudan for neighboring countries and another 1.9 million South Sudanese remain internally displaced. Widespread insecurity continues to displace communities, disrupt livelihood activities, exacerbate food insecurity and impede humanitarian access to vulnerable populations.

• The Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) is a standardized tool that aims to classify the severity and magnitude of food insecurity. The IPC scale, which is comparable across countries, ranges from Minimal (IPC 1) to Famine (IPC 5)

RESPONSE

• A sustained and unimpeded humanitarian response is critical to saving lives and preventing a deterioration to Famine (IPC 5) levels of acute food insecurity. Since the start of the conflict, the Office of Food for Peace (FFP) and its partners—including the UN World Food Program (WFP) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)—have addressed the needs of South Sudan’s most vulnerable and conflict-affected populations through emergency food and nutrition interventions. In FY 2017, FFP-supported programs provided life-saving food assistance to 1.1 million people per month, on average.

• FFP also partners with Catholic Relief Services to support food security and livelihoods interventions, including providing agricultural training for farming households and expanding access to safe drinking water, in Jonglei State.