UN Warns of Looming 'Hunger Emergency' at Border of Sudan and South Sudan
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday, October 3, that a “hunger emergency is looming” at the border of South Sudan and Sudan as people continue to flee fighting in Sudan.
Of the nearly 300,000 people who have arrived in South Sudan in the last five months, one in five children are malnourished and 90 percent of families said that they are going days without eating, the WFP told Storyful.
Across South Sudan, the WFP was only able to reach 40 percent of food-insecure people in 2023, and is facing a funding gap of $536 million over the next six months, the WFP said.
The WFP said that they urgently require more than $120 million to increase support for people fleeing from war in Sudan into South Sudan over the next few months.
This footage by WFP shows people being screened at a WFP nutrition center. Credit: The United Nations World Food Programme via Storyful
Video transcript
[CHATTER]
- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
- Since I've been here, I have seen the condition of people deteriorating rapidly, those that are coming across the border as the conflict continues. Really, to see a malnourished child in a mother's arms, not knowing whether that child is actually going to survive the night or not, is incredibly confronting, and that's what the UN is here to-- trying to support, that-- make sure that we are providing that life-saving assistance so people can survive not only their entry, but also their onward journeys into South Sudan.
[CHATTER]
- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
[TODDLER BABBLES]