Families and children in South Sudan’s eastern Jonglei state are surviving on leaves and water lilies as hunger surges towards famine levels in parts of the country following three months of escalating violence, Save the Children said.
Many families in Jonglei state have been left without essential and life-saving services since an escalation in violence in March led to the suspension of aid operations in areas and government orders to aid agencies to evacuate, triggering mass displacement.
Save the Children suspended its humanitarian operations in Akobo East – a refuge for people fleeing violence across Jonglei – and relocated staff due to increased violence.
The withdrawal of services followed a similar suspension of operations in February in Walgak in Jonglei after armed gangs looted and vandalized a Save the Children office, destroyed a healthcare centre, and took three of the organisation’s vehicles.
Save the Children staff working in neighbouring counties have reported hearing horrific stories of families going without humanitarian aid while flooding worsens.
In some parts of the state, families and children are surviving on leaves and water lilies collected from swamps and seeds reserved for planting, while mothers walk for hours through floodplains to find anything edible for their children.
Save the Children said thousands of children are no longer attending school, while others are being forced into labour or early marriage as families struggle to survive. In areas where schools remain accessible, some children have stopped attending because they are too weak from hunger.
The extreme coping mechanisms come as the latest analysis by the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) – the leading global authority on the severity of hunger crises – showed that four counties, including Nyirol and Akobo in Jonglei state, are at risk of famine.
According to the IPC, more than 7.8 million people – or six in 10 people in South Sudan – are facing acute food insecurity. About 2.2 million children under five require treatment for acute malnutrition—an increase of around 90,000 cases since the previous analysis. Nearly 700,000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition – the deadliest form of hunger that requires urgent medical attention and specialised treatment.
Health workers have reported children arriving at nutrition centres severely malnourished after surviving for weeks on diluted porridge or a mix of salt and flour.
This deteriorating situation has become evident at a nutrition site at Bor Hospital in Jonglei state’s Bor County, where Save the Children operates three different programmes helping to screen and treat malnourished children and breastfeeding or pregnant mothers. Tabisa Ajer, 31, a health care worker at the hospital said:
“We have over 60 children who are severely malnourished right now. Usually, we have 60 later in the wet season when malnutrition tends to spike but the number is high for this early on. The numbers have spiked due to the season and the worsening hunger crisis, flooding and insecurity. A lot of children coming here have diarrhea and vomiting.
“We are just at the start of the rainy season now, and June to August the hunger situation usually worsens. This year is more dangerous than the other years. Insecurity is impacting food cultivation.”
Chris Nyamandi, Country Director for Save the Children in South Sudan, said:
“Solutions to extreme hunger are political. This situation can be prevented and mitigated, before more children suffer. Next month South Sudan will mark 15 years of independence and greater investment in inclusive peace and social protection is needed to prevent violence amidst an escalating, underfunded humanitarian crisis response.
“In an already hyper-prioritised humanitarian system, international aid cuts continue to disproportionately impact those most vulnerable in one of the world’s most fragile states.”
Save the Children calls on all parties to the conflict to prioritize the protection of civilians, respect international humanitarian law, and ensure safe, sustained, and unhindered humanitarian access to already affected communities.
The aid agency is also calling for greater and more flexible resources needed to respond to the dire needs of the displaced populations in strained communities, with funding flows designed to reach local actors delivering principled aid.
Save the Children has worked in South Sudan since 1991, providing children with access to education, healthcare and nutrition services, and supporting families with food security and livelihoods assistance.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Save the Children.
