3.9 Million People are in Need of Urgent Action to Save Livelihoods and Lives and to Prevent Famine

Currently, 3.1 million are in Crisis (IPC Phse 3) and 830,000 in Emergency (IPC Phase 4), and of extreme concern are 30,00 people estimated to be in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) requiring urgent humanitarian assistance;

Famine is not declared at this time in areas highly affected by conflict due to limited evidence available. There is a concrete risk of Famine occurring between October and December 2015 if urgent humanitarian access and assistance is not provided in the most affected areas.

The worst affected areas are 4 counties in the areas highly influenced by conflict in Unity State (Leer, Guit, Koch and Mayendit Counties). The other states of concern are the other two conflict-affected States of Jonglei and Upper Nile in the Greater Upper Nile.

The most affected populations are the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who are dispersed and the host communities affected by the on-going conflict.

This complex emergency in South Sudan is caused by high underlying vulnerability and severe effects of the conflict and displacement compounded by limited humanitarian access, resulting in loss of livelihoods, income, assets, inadequate food access, market disruption, high prices, and unsustainable coping.

For more detailed analysis, see the IPC Technical Working Group in South Sudan's September 2015 Food Security and Nutrition Analysis - KEY MESSAGES and the IPC Alert, Issue 3, 22 October 2015, Call for Immediate Humanitarian Action to Prevent Famine in South Sudan.