South Sudan: Children Starving While Aid Falling Short

Washington — Even as aid workers are warning that children in South Sudan are falling victim to mass malnutrition, international agencies are said to be missing their fundraising goals to avert a looming famine in the country.

On Monday, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the international medical relief organisation, reported that nearly three-quarters of the more than 18,000 patients admitted to the agency's feeding programmes in South Sudan have been children.

South Sudan has experienced mounting civil violence in recent months, which humanitarian groups warn has directly impacted farmers' ability to plant and grow crops.

Yet even as South Sudan's malnutrition epidemic intensifies, seven major international aid agencies, all of which prioritise food security in South Sudanese villages, may have to shut down their projects due to severe funding gaps.

Naming South Sudan to be "the most pressing humanitarian crisis in Africa," CARE International, a U.S.-based relief agency, has stated that the United Nations' most recent appeal for South Sudan is less than half funded.

The U.N. says some 1.8 billion dollars is urgently needed in the country, yet CARE says that seven implementing agencies are short by some 89 million dollars.

"We will be staring into the abyss and failing to avert a famine if funds do not start arriving soon," Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam, said in CARE's report.

"This is a not a crisis caused by drought or flood. It is a political crisis turned violent. The people of South Sudan can only put their lives back together once the fighting ends. In the meantime... we are asking the public to help us with our urgent humanitarian work, but mainly we are calling on governments to fund the aid effort before it is too late."

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of State announced it would provide another 22 million dollars in humanitarian assistance to facilitate "basic life support" in South Sudan. Yet the following day, three U.S. lawmakers wrote a letter to President Barack Obama, expressing "grave concern" over the growing conflict in South Sudan's border region and urging "renewed diplomatic engagement" with the international community.

While solving the political problem at the root of South Sudan's current violence is a significant priority, aid workers say the international community's most dire concern should be for the nutritional needs of South Sudanese children.