Over 2 Million Children at Risk as Nutrition Centres Face Cuts

By Staff Writer

A funding crisis has compelled Save the Children to reduce vital nutrition services in South Sudan, putting over two million children at risk of malnutrition.

Danny Glenwright, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children Canada, told a press conference in Juba on Friday that resources supporting the centres have been drastically reduced, with no new funding available to sustain most operations.

“In a city like Bor, we have reduced the number of nutrition centres from 22 to 15. Women with children and numerous responsibilities cannot always travel to the fewer centres for treatment, which means sick children will go untreated. Existing centres, now with fewer staff, take longer to treat children and may need to turn families away,” Glenwright said.

Many aid agencies in South Sudan are warning of significant disruptions and cuts to food aid due to severe funding shortfalls. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and UNHCR have highlighted the escalating risk of catastrophic hunger for millions of people, including Sudanese refugees and South Sudanese returnees. These cuts are forcing agencies to reduce rations and potentially suspend assistance, leaving vulnerable populations without life-saving support.

Recent figures from the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC)—the leading global authority on the severity of hunger crises—indicate that, in just over six months, the number of people living in the most severe phase of acute hunger (IPC Phase 5) in South Sudan has doubled. Additionally, the percentage of the population experiencing crisis levels of acute hunger (IPC Phase 3 and above) has risen from 47% to 57%, an increase of 21%.

Due to a lack of food, insufficient medical supplies in health facilities, and major disease outbreaks, including cholera, the number of acutely malnourished children under the age of five in South Sudan has risen from 2.1 million to 2.3 million—a 10.5% increase, amounting to an additional 218,000 malnourished children.
Of the 80 counties where data was collected, 62 (78%) reported a general deterioration in acute malnutrition, according to the IPC.

Children are always the most vulnerable during food crises, and without adequate food and proper nutrition, they are at high risk of becoming acutely malnourished, stated Save the Children.

Malnutrition can lead to stunting, hinder mental and physical development, and increase the risk of contracting deadly diseases.

This situation arises as foreign aid cuts have brought life-saving programmes across South Sudan—one of the world’s most aid-dependent countries—to a standstill.