As Fighting and Hunger Escalates in South Sudan, WFP Urgently Pre-Positions Food to Help Prevent Famine (For the Media)

It is estimated that 2.8 million people – nearly 25 percent of the country’s population – remain in urgent need of food assistance between January and March, which is the period just before the lean season. This is 84 percent higher than the same period last year and due to the combined effects of more than two years of fighting, a collapsing economy, high food prices and erratic rainfall. WFP delivered food and nutrition assistance to some 3 million people across South Sudan in the last year, working with 87 NGO partners and using every means of transport at our disposal, including aircrafts, river barges, cash-based transfers, local food purchases and specialized nutritious foods.