South Sudan

With millions fleeing from conflict, many people in the world’s newest country are at risk of malnutrition.

Life in South Sudan is tough. Due to the effects of prolonged conflict, Covid-19 and weak essential services, the country remains in crisis – with 2.5 million people just one step away from famine.

In particular, Covid-19 has caused disruption to supply chains and led to restrictions on movement and markets. This has affected the delivery of humanitarian aid and increased the cost of food.

In July 2011, South Sudan achieved independence from the Republic of Sudan to become the world’s newest country. It has vast oil reserves, and makes up one of the richest agricultural areas in Africa despite struggling with war and extreme poverty for more than two decades.

Although the world celebrated its independence with great hope, South Sudan remains underdeveloped. It has very little basic infrastructure for education, health systems, safe water, functioning markets, or paved roads. About 80 percent of the population live in rural areas and many rely on livestock and subsistence farming to survive.

Country facts

558,079
Action Against Hunger reached over 500,000 people through our programmes in 2020.
11.1M
South Sudan has a population of over 11 million people.
31.3%
Over 30% of South Sudanese children under five suffer from malnutrition.

Nyagout Lok, 46, and her pregnant daughter, Nyakoang Majok, 28, set up a bed in the water – there is no room for both of them to sleep inside their temporary shelter in South Sudan.

Devastating floods cause hunger in South Sudan

In late 2020, more than one million people were trapped or forced to leave their homes because of extreme flooding.

Read the photo story

Action Against Hunger’s work in South Sudan

Action Against Hunger is often the only organisation providing life-saving health and nutrition services in remote areas of South Sudan.

Our programmes in 2020 included:

supporting more than 5,000 farmers with training and the tools to grow nutritious crops
treating children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women for malnutrition
helping vulnerable people gain access to income and work
providing food baskets to families affected by flooding and the pandemic
building 792 new latrines and distributing 1,523 hygiene kits
supporting 43 mobile nutrition posts and three nutrition treatment centres

Dr David Gai Zakayo treats a patient at Action Against Hunger health centre in South Sudan.

Doctors are like soldiers

Dr David Gai Zakayo is an Action Against Hunger roving medical doctor in South Sudan. Every day, he and his team see more than 150 children and pregnant women to help prevent deaths from malnutrition and other diseases, including coronavirus.

Read his story