South Sudan

Quick Facts

Population: 11.9 million
People in Need: 9.3 million
People Facing Hunger: 2.6 million

Our Impact

People Helped Last Year: 928,923
Our Team: 167 employees
Program Start: 1985

The State of Hunger in South Sudan

South Sudan faces an escalating hunger crisis driven by economic instability, conflict, widespread flooding, and an influx of refugees and returnees. The country is experiencing alarming levels of hunger, with 6.3 million people in crisis levels of food insecurity. Flooding has affected over 1.4 million people, devastating crops and displacing communities, while more than 1 million people have fled into South Sudan from Sudan, placing severe pressure on limited resources.

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How We're Helping in South Sudan

We provide lifesaving and resilience-building support. Our nutrition and health, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and food security programs reach over 900,000 people. Gender and protection considerations are integrated across all activities to ensure inclusive assistance. Emergency teams deliver rapid assistance to flood-affected populations and displaced refugees and returnees to treat malnutrition, reduce waterborne diseases, and improve food security and community resilience.

Advocacy is a vital component of our programs. We work with lawmakers and civil society organizations to increase budget allocations for health, nutrition, and WASH. A major achievement was the finalization of South Sudan’s first National Nutrition Policy to comprehensively address malnutrition. Additionally, our research teams contribute critical data to national food security assessments to support evidence-based humanitarian responses.

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6.3M

People Face Crisis Levels Of Food Insecurity

Achoc and her one year old daughter Atong receive care at an Action Against Hunger nutrition center.

Refugees Have Fled From Sudan Into South Sudan

Meet Paguir's First Doctor

Paguir is a remote area of South Sudan that humanitarian workers can only reach via a 2-hour flight followed by 4 hours by canoe, and then 6 hours trekking through a swamp. In 2019, we opened Paguir’s first health clinic, where Dr. Paulino treats dangerously malnourished children and provide health services to families.

Emergency Team in South Sudan

Queen and her colleagues sit and eat together at the end of a long day.

In South Sudan, the remote region of Maruwo has no health clinics, electricity, or internet.

Women gather around a repaired water point in South Sudan.

The Outreach Team take Bol Biel and her child back to the stabilisation centre as the child is showing signs of malnutrition.

A malnourished child is treated in one of Action Against Hunger's health centers in South Sudan.

Agawol serves as an Action Against Hunger volunteer in her community. Here, she screens her neighbor's child for malnutrition.

Nyanut works with a member of Action Against Hunger's team to maintain her community's borehole.

Women are the heart of our lifesaving work in South Sudan. We bring new livelihood activities and help women like Nyalam farm more effectively and provide nutritious food for their families.

South Sudan: Nyalam and the Women Leading the Fight Against Hunger

Our Emergency Team deploys to help communities facing urgent needs. This team reaches some of the hardest-to-reach areas and, often, they are the only humanitarians for miles.

How we restore hope

Our pioneering research in South Sudan showed a simplified approach for treating malnutrition in young children was as effective as standard treatment and $123 cheaper per child.

Our streamlined approach to acute malnutrition

It isn’t easy to be a humanitarian worker. But to me, it is a privilege. Many people have nowhere to turn, if not to humanitarian aid. Their expectations—and the sense of responsibility we feel—are huge.”

— Victor Mallelah, Emergency Nutrition Survey Program Manager, South Sudan

We build boreholes, which allows women to spend less time fetching water and more time earning income and caring for themselves and their families.

Committed to Change: One Woman Leads a Community to Health