South Sudan
Country Director for the UN World Food Programme in South Sudan has warned of the risk posed by COVID-19 in the country.
The East-Central African nation is, already struggling with hunger due to conflict, its harsh climate and locust invasions.
Matthew Hollingworth told the media: “Last year we had to feed 5 million people due to fighting and flooding.
“Already in 2020 we have had locust invasions and now there is the COVID-19 pandemic which we predict could almost double the people in acute hunger by the end of 2020 across the world.
“The only way we can halt this trend is if generous funding for humanitarian crises like the one here in South Sudan continues,” he stressed.
In 2020, an early projection estimated that up to 5.5 million South Sudanese will go hungry, and the number of people in need is likely to increase because of the destruction caused by these floods. WFP has deployed the use of airdrops as a last resort to reach people in isolated places.
01:11
UN issues alarming global food wastage and shortage
01:34
South Sudan: UNMISS and partners commission centre to assist survivors of conflict
01:34
Sudan war: After escaping the war at home, refugees face hunger and diseases
00:53
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Cairo
01:15
South Sudan shutters all schools as it prepares for an extreme heat wave
01:30
WFP fears more hunger amid gang violence in Haiti