WFP food assistance reaches over 600,000 flood victims in South Sudan
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has reached more than 600,000 people who have been impacted by the ongoing floods in different parts of South Sudan in October.
Torrential rains and flooding sweeping across South Sudan have affected close to a million people in 48 counties.
The flooding, which is partly due to Uganda releasing excess water into the Nile, has been most severe in Jonglei, Unity State and Lakes States.
It has affected more than 800,000 people and has displaced nearly 400,000, most of whom are women and children, according to the UN.
Flood waters have submerged entire villages including houses, schools, healthcare facilities and farmlands, leaving farmers without crops, children without schools and families without access to medical care.
Most of the displaced people escaped on foot, wading through flood water with their children on their backs.
“Our teams and our partners are continuously providing much-needed assistance to the most vulnerable people wherever they may be taking refuge from the floods,’’ says Matthew Hollingworth, WFP’s Country Director in South Sudan.
“As of October, we reached more than half a million people with one month’s worth of a standard ration which includes cereals, pulses, cooking oil and salt. Furthermore, we have distributed close to 400 million South Sudanese Pounds (SSP) in Bor and Mingkaman.”
WFP strives to reach vulnerable communities in the most remote locations where the food security needs are significantly high.
Our staff carry out assessments of humanitarian and food security conditions in partnership with the Government of South Sudan and humanitarian partners.
Using amphibious All-Terrain Vehicles which can easily manoeuvre across large bodies of water and swampy areas, WFP has managed to support national and international non-governmental organizations, as well as United Nations agencies, to reach people cut off by the floods with different types of humanitarian assistance including shelter and medicine.
The flooding crisis has come on the back of a very desperate levels of hunger in Jonglei, 1.4 million people had already been suffering from acute and severe hunger before the floods began.
Additionally, approximately 1.3 million children across South Sudan are malnourished according to the UN.