US provides nearly $300 million in food assistance for S Sudan

The US government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has provided over $288 million in additional humanitarian assistance to the people of South Sudan amid  reported acute food insecurity and malnutrition in the country.

Persistent violent conflict, deteriorating economic conditions, successive years of flooding, and the effects of the global food crisis reportedly continue to drive displacement, disrupt livelihoods, and limit agricultural production and access to markets across South Sudan, while also hindering the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

An Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report released in November 2022 showed about two-thirds of the South Sudanese population (7.76 million people) are likely to face acute food insecurity during the April-July 2023 lean season while 1.4 million children will be malnourished.
The new funding was announced today by the U.S. Ambassador to South Sudan, Michael J. Adler, during a visit to Aweil in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State on Thursday.
The additional funding will enable USAID’s partner the UN World Food Program address the acute humanitarian needs to help as many as 2.2 million of the most food-insecure people in South Sudan.
“The USAID Agency will provide these funding to the World Food Program to deliver food and nutrition supports to nearly 2.2 million people across this country,” Amb Adler said.

It will support provision of life-saving food assistance, health care services, and nutrition to crisis-affected populations, as well as logistics support to transport humanitarian cargo and personnel to hard-to-reach areas in greatest need.

The US diplomat was accompanied by the Vice President for Gender and Youth Cluster, Rebecca Nyandeng, and the head of World Food Program in South Sudan.