10 years after South Sudan’s independence, more children in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. The country’s infant mortality rate is among the highest in the world, with 1 in 10 children.
A record 4.5 million children in South Sudan are in desperate need of humanitarian support, UNICEF warned today. Bouts of violence and conflict, recurring floods, droughts and other extreme weather events fuelled by climate change, and a deepening economic crisis have led to extremely high food insecurity, and one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The recent peace agreement, which has only partially been implemented, has so far failed to bring about any remedy to the challenges facing the country’s children and young people.
Some 8.3 million people in South Sudan need humanitarian support, a much higher number than the levels seen during the 2013-2018 civil war.
High levels of food insecurity are of particular concern. Some 1.4 million children are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year, the highest figure since 2013. More than 300,000 children are expected to suffer from the worst form of malnutrition and are at risk of dying if treatment is not provided.
Limited access to education and high drop-out rates have left 2.8 million children out of school – the highest proportion of out-of-school children in the world at more than 70 per cent of school-age children. The 14-month school closure because of the COVID pandemic had pushed an additional 2 million children out of school.
www.unicef.org