ReliefWeb

Highlights

• An updated Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) was released in June, highlighting that food security has deteriorated further in South Sudan. The severely food insecure population has grown to 6 million (from 4.9 million in February) and accounts for about 50 per cent of the total population. An estimated 1.1 million children are estimated to be acutely malnourished.

• South Sudan is experiencing one of the most protracted, widespread Cholera outbreaks in recent history. About 6,870 cases have been reported this year, the highest since 2014. The reported cases within the first 6 months of 2017 show a 73 per cent increase from the total cases reported in 2016. UNICEF and partners have scaled up nationwide cholera response.

• The national measles immunization campaign, launched on 3 May, was successfully completed in seven states. Preliminary results indicate that 97 per cent of the 1,496,115 targeted children have been reached.

Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs

A new IPC was released in June, showing that while the famine is officially over in Unity State, however, food security in South Sudan has deteriorated further across the country. An estimated 6 million people (50 per cent of South Sudan’s population) are estimated to be severely food insecure. This is the largest number of people ever to experience severe food insecurity (IPC Phases 3, 4 and 5) in South Sudan. The impacts from armed conflict, economic crisis, and below-average harvests that were exhausted well before the ongoing lean season have been identified as the main reasons for the high levels of food insecurity.

Famine is no longer occurring in Leer and Mayendit counties, and further deterioration was prevented in Koch and Panyijar counties of Unity State as a result of immediate and sustained multi-sector humanitarian assistance delivered to affected population since March 2017.

The early detection of the deterioration of the food security situation into famine followed by the large-scale immediate response averted further loss of life. However, between June and July 2017, approximately 45,000 people will still be facing Humanitarian Catastrophe in Leer, Koch, Mayendit in former Unity State and Ayod County in former Jonglei state while an estimated 1.7 million people are likely to be facing severe food security (IPC Phase 4 - one-step below Famine).

The number of reported cholera cases continues to increase. The total number of cases reported so far in 2017 has reached 6,870, with 174 deaths (CFR 2.6 per cent). Meanwhile, the cumulative number of cases since the onset of the outbreak in June 2016 has reached 10,832, with 251 deaths (CFR 2.3 per cent). Children and teenagers constitute about 51 per cent of the cases. New cases have recently been recorded in Juba, with the risk of transmission high due to the urban environment and the current limited operation of the urban water system for lack of fuel. In 2017, 665 measles cases and three deaths have been reported, at a CFR of 0.45 per cent.