News

Emergency Appeal as 30 Million Face Famine

Wednesday June 23 2021

^{Asunta Nyanut Deng and her grandchild, two of seven million people facing starvation in South Sudan.}

Christian Aid has launched an emergency appeal as more than 41 million people in 43 countries are teetering on the brink of famine.

The Covid-19 pandemic, climate crisis, and continued conflict has exacerbated hunger and food insecurity in countries including South Sudan, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Nigeria (in the North East) and Afghanistan.

In South Sudan, 60% of the population are struggling to get enough food to eat, and 82% are living in extreme poverty. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, six of the country’s counties are already categorised as being in IPC Phase 5 Catastrophe - which means people face starvation, death, destitution and debilitating levels of acute malnutrition - and 34 states are in the emergency acute food insecurity phase as people experience very high acute malnutrition and excess deaths. 7.2 million people are now affected during this lean season.

One of them is Asunta Nyanut Deng (pictured above). She said: “I am asking people whom God has blessed, who are living a better life, to help me with food to live, so I can reach next year. We have nothing to eat. We will not have anything to eat in the near future. My family and I worry because we are living in hardship.”

James Wani, Christian Aid’s South Sudan Country Director, based in Juba, said: “Floods, drought, conflict and Covid-19 have joined forces to deliver devastation and fuel the food crisis in South Sudan - the combined result is the destruction of crops, livelihoods, houses and dwellings, while roads have become impassable, markets have stopped, supply chains have been crippled, and food prices have soared.

“I am gravely concerned about the scale of hunger we are witnessing, now escalating well beyond that formally reported in December, claiming the lives of the most vulnerable, particularly those displaced and already in dire need.”

Val Brown, Community Relations and Fundraising Manager at Christian Aid Scotland, said: “These aren’t just numbers these are people, our fellow global neighbours. In a country of over 11 million people - 60 percent, over half the country - don’t have enough food to eat. The three Cs have collided – climate change, Covid-19 and conflict – and the impact is devastating.”

You can respond to the appeal at https://www.christianaid.org.uk/appeals/emergencies/global-hunger-emergency-appeal