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South Sudan

South Sudan Food Security and Livelihoods Cluster Advocacy Brief - Protecting Children in South Sudan’s Food Security Crisis (July 2023)

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Exacerbated Food Insecurity in South Sudan Poses an Additional Threat to the Endangered Lives of 3.1 Million Children in Need of Urgent Child Protection Services

Background

The overall food security situation has worsened across South Sudan due to compounding shocks, including flooding, ongoing conflict, displacement, and cost of living. The impact is expected to result in another year of livestock and crop losses and has eroded the livelihoods and coping strategies of vulnerable communities across the country. Over half of South Sudan’s population (63%) are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity. Parts of South Sudan continue to face the highest levels of food insecurity since the country declared independence 11 years ago.

According to the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan, an estimated 7.76 million plus Abyei (187K) people in the country are in need of food security and livelihood support, including 3.3 million children.The latest IPC report projects that from April to July 2023, over 7.7 million people are facing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC3+) and over 2.9 million people will be in emergency acute food insecurity (IPC4+). These levels are expected to remain elevated in most areas between October 2023 and January 2024, during which some people are likely to continue to experience emergency food insecurity.

An estimated 737,812 pregnant and lactating women and 1.4 million children under the age of five in South Sudan will likely suffer from acute malnutrition over the course of 2023. Approximately 345,893 children will need SAM treatment, while another 1,057,703 will need MAM treatment.4 At the same time, an estimated 6.1 million women, girls, men, and boys will be or are facing protection risks and violations in 2023, with 3.1 million children urgently in need of immediate lifesaving and life sustaining child protection services.

Approximately 1 million children are in need of mental health and psychological services (MHPSS). With 2.8 million school-age children already out of school, several more thousand are expected to leave school to find ways to help themselves and their families survive due to drastic food insecurity. One of every two girls are married before the age of 187 and 46 percent of children are engaged in hazardous child labour. Since 2013, over 19,000 children have been reported to be associated with armed forces and groups. Child protection actors also report family separation as a key risk tightly linked to food insecurity. In order to address the interlinkages between food insecurity and children’s protection and well-being in South Sudan, it is essential that humanitarian actors, government, and donors commit to addressing children’s protection needs and safeguard children from the effects of the hunger crisis.