Attachments
Highlights
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Intensified hostilities across Jonglei, Upper Nile, Unity, and Equatoria states have displaced over 718,000 people since January 2025, disrupting essential services and leaving thousands without adequate shelter, food, and healthcare.
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Cholera outbreak ongoing, with 96,557 cases and 1,595 deaths reported since September 2024. While cases declined in late November, transmission persists in hotspot counties due to poor WASH conditions, population movement, and access constraints.
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Flooding affected 1.35 million people and displaced nearly 375,600, damaging homes and infrastructure. Humanitarian access worsened, with a 30 per cent increase in incidents compared to November 2024, as conflict, flooding, and administrative barriers limited aid delivery.
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UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) appeal remains significantly underfunded —only 35 percent of the required $278.2 million has been received, leaving urgent needs unmet and constraining response capacity.
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SITUATION OVERVIEW AND HUMANITARIAN NEEDS
South Sudan faced an escalating humanitarian crisis in November as overlapping shocks continued to strain already vulnerable communities. While seasonal rains began to recede, the lingering impacts of earlier flooding, persistent insecurity, widespread displacement, and deepening economic hardship severely disrupted livelihoods and access to essential services. Disease outbreaks and heightened protection risks—particularly for women, children, and other at-risk groups—further compounded the situation. Humanitarian actors grappled with insecurity and logistical challenges amid critical needs for food, nutrition, health care, education and WASH services. The scale and urgency of these needs underscore the importance of sustained, flexible funding and robust coordination to deliver life-saving assistance and avert further deterioration for millions of people.
Intensified hostilities across Jonglei, Upper Nile, Western Equatoria, Unity, and Eastern Equatoria States triggered large-scale displacement and severely disrupted essential services. Since January 2025, more than 718,000 people have been uprooted across South Sudan, primarily due to conflict and flooding. Intercommunal violence in Baliet County (Upper Nile) resulted in fatalities and displaced 6,017 people, while clashes in Torit County (Eastern Equatoria) forced 5,469 to flee1 . In Western Equatoria, an estimated 226,564 individuals were displaced across multiple counties. These movements have placed immense pressure on already limited resources, leaving thousands without adequate shelter, food, and healthcare. The interruption of health and nutrition services has further heightened the risk of disease outbreaks and malnutrition, particularly among children and pregnant women.
Cholera remains a significant public health concern in South Sudan, with 96,557 cases and 1,595 deaths reported since the outbreak began in September 2024. Although transmission has declined compared to previous peaks, new cases continue to emerge in hotspot counties such as Rubkona, Mayom, Mayendit (Unity State), Duk (Jonglei State), Ikwotos (Eastern Equatoria State), and Renk (Upper Nile State), largely due to poor WASH conditions, reliance on untreated river water, and gaps in vaccination coverage. In the last two weeks of November (17–30), 272 new cases and 5 deaths were reported, with Juba, Mayom, Duk, and Rubkona accounting for most cases. Despite extensive response efforts—including oral cholera vaccination campaigns (8.7 million doses administered), WASH interventions, and case management through 102 Oral Rehydration Points (ORPs) and 19 Cholera Treatment Centers (CTCs)—funding shortages, insecurity, and delayed mop-up campaigns hinder progress. To curb transmission, the Ministry of Health and partners launched a 30-day knockout plan focusing on intensified WASH, rapid supply deployment, targeted vaccination, and community sensitization to eliminate remaining hotspots. Sustained commitment is critical to ending the outbreak and preventing resurgence.
Meanwhile, the confirmation of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) in Ethiopia’s South Omo region on 14 November 2025, near South Sudan’s porous border, has raised concerns about cross-border transmission through population movement and informal trade routes. Although no cases have been reported in South Sudan, the proximity of the outbreak calls for heightened vigilance. In response, the Ministry of Health has activated its Public Health Emergency Operations Centre and drafted a preparedness and response plan for November 2025 to April 2026, pending validation. The plan focuses on strengthening surveillance at border points and health facilities, rapid case detection, training of frontline workers, and community awareness campaigns. Timely implementation of these measures is critical to prevent undetected transmission into South Sudan, which would pose a serious threat to public health and strain an already fragile health system. UNICEF is concurrently developing its internal plan to support surveillance, early detection, health worker capacity building, and community engagement in coordination with national authorities and partners.
Widespread flooding has affected over 1.35 million people across 39 counties in eight states as of 30 November 2025, displacing nearly 375,600 individuals—with Jonglei, Lakes, and Unity accounting for the majority of those impacted. This marks the fifth consecutive year of severe inundation, resulting in the destruction of homes, farmland and key infrastructure, and disrupting essential health and education services. While water levels remain high in parts of Unity, especially around the Bentiu IDP sites, floodwaters are gradually receding elsewhere due to below-average rainfall, and river levels are falling with no further overflow expected. Some displaced families have begun returning home, though many face destroyed or partially destroyed shelters and limited services, underscoring the urgent need for coordinated humanitarian assistance and early dyke reinforcement to prevent future flooding.
Humanitarian access deteriorated sharply in November 2025, with 58 incidents—a 30 per cent increase from November 2024—driven by intensified hostilities, operational interference, and worsening physical barriers. Armed clashes in Jonglei, Upper Nile, Unity, and Equatoria displaced communities and forced aid worker relocations, while security disruptions along key routes hindered movement. Bureaucratic hurdles, including travel permits and recruitment restrictions, compounded challenges. Flooding compounded physical access constraints, rendering key routes in Unity State (Bentiu–Kilo 30–Rotriak and Rotriak–Pariang–Yida) impassable and deteriorating the Rubkona–Wunrok road, limiting movement between Unity and Warrap. Compared to 2024, constraints are more severe, with rising threats to staff and administrative barriers underscoring the need for stronger acceptance strategies, flexible routing, and sustained negotiations.
The overlapping crises of conflict, flooding, disease outbreaks and operational challenges highlight the extreme vulnerability of communities across South Sudan. Addressing the scale of needs will require strengthened humanitarian access, coordinated multi-sectoral interventions, and predictable, flexible funding to protect the most vulnerable populations and prevent further deterioration. Without sustained support and resilience measures, millions remain at risk of displacement, worsening health conditions, and deepening food insecurity, threatening to reverse progress toward stability and recovery.