Millions at Risk as WFP Battles Hunger and Funding Crisis in South Sudan

The humanitarian crisis in South Sudan continues to deepen as conflict, displacement, and extreme weather conditions fuel an alarming rise in hunger across the country. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has already reached over two million vulnerable people in South Sudan with life-saving food aid in 2025. However, an acute funding shortfall now threatens to derail operations, potentially cutting off assistance to millions more who are facing severe and even catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

Hunger Grips Half the Nation

According to WFP, an estimated 7.7 million people—half the population of South Sudan—are experiencing acute hunger. Among them, 83,000 individuals are classified under IPC Phase 5, indicating catastrophic hunger, the highest and most critical level on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) scale.

The most dire situations are being reported in:

• Upper Nile State, where over 32,000 people face IPC5 conditions due to intense conflict and limited humanitarian access.

• Nasir and Ulang counties, currently at risk of deteriorating into full-scale famine.

• 39,000 returnees from Sudan, many of whom fled ongoing war and arrived in South Sudan hungry, traumatized, and malnourished.

Compounding the crisis is a record 2.3 million children at risk of malnutrition, with the hardest-hit regions being conflict zones in Upper Nile and flood-ravaged areas such as Bentiu.

“We Must Not Let Hunger Win” — WFP Leadership Speaks Out

WFP Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Carl Skau, who recently returned from South Sudan, emphasized the urgent need for continued global solidarity. He warned that if donors do not step up, the humanitarian response may collapse.

“This is a race against time and resources. Millions are depending on our assistance. We must not let hunger win,” Skau said.

Skau praised the resilience of South Sudanese communities and highlighted the impact of WFP operations where access was granted. In Uror County, Jonglei State, consistent aid deliveries allowed WFP to eliminate all IPC5 conditions in 2025. Similarly, ten counties saw improved food security due to relative peace and increased crop production.

Humanitarian Operations: A Lifeline in Crisis Zones

Despite operational constraints, WFP has managed to deliver 430 metric tons of food via airdrops to the Greater Upper Nile region, targeting 40,000 people stranded in remote and famine-threatened areas.

In a breakthrough development, river convoys on the White Nile resumed in July after months of disruption due to fighting. On 16 July, a major convoy carrying 1,380 metric tons of food and non-food items departed Bor, headed to Upper Nile State. River transport remains the most cost-efficient method of delivering large-scale assistance in a country plagued by poor infrastructure and conflict-driven inaccessibility.

Meanwhile, WFP’s United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) continues to serve seven critical destinations in Upper Nile: Maban, Maiwut, Malakal, Mandeng, Mathiang, Renk, and Ulang, delivering emergency supplies and personnel to the hardest-to-reach populations.

The humanitarian response also includes medical aid. Since March, the WFP-led Logistics Cluster has airlifted 109 metric tons of cholera-related supplies to Upper Nile and Unity States in response to a growing cholera outbreak.

A Funding Cliff Edge: Millions Could Lose Aid

While WFP has managed to support two million people in 2025, it warns that severe funding shortfalls now threaten to curtail or halt operations. The agency currently only has resources to reach 2.5 million people with reduced emergency food rations, covering just 30 percent of those in need.

To maintain this already limited level of support through December 2025, WFP urgently requires US$274 million. Without immediate donor intervention:

• Rations may be cut further starting in September 2025.

• Entire communities could be excluded from assistance altogether.

• Recent fragile gains in hunger reduction could be quickly reversed.

WFP has issued repeated warnings that underfunding not only imperils lives but also undermines stability in a nation already grappling with conflict, climate shocks, and mass displacement.

The Human Cost of Inaction

The hunger crisis in South Sudan is not a product of food shortages alone. It is a human-made emergency, driven by armed conflict, displacement, and climate-related disasters, exacerbated by geopolitical instability in neighboring Sudan. Since April 2023, nearly 1.2 million people have crossed into South Sudan fleeing the Sudanese conflict, adding pressure to already overwhelmed humanitarian systems.

The stakes are now higher than ever. With no end in sight to the overlapping emergencies facing South Sudan, the international community is being called upon to act decisively and urgently.

As Carl Skau put it, “The cost of inaction will be measured in lives lost, futures stolen, and peace deferred.”