**4.4 Recommendations**

*Food Security in Africa*

**4.3 Prospects**

urban area.

1% in catastrophe status (IPC 5).

The key findings of the assessment were [40]:

2016, when 51% of the population was food insecure.

regarded an acceptable level of food consumption.

achieve food security was 23 and 35%, respectively

scale (59% moderate and 14% severe).

done in 2015 (12.2%) and 2016 (11.2%).

vulnerability and poor access to food.

and are able to recover their food security situation after harvest in any year, while 50–60% faces food insecurity of various levels in the dry season, but with less than

The food security and nutrition situation in South Sudan has been deteriorating in recent years due to the outbreak of conflicts, below par food production, disruption of markets and trade, hyper-inflation, diseases and natural disasters such as floods and drought in parts of the country. With the ongoing macroeconomic crisis including the rapid depreciation of the South Sudanese Pound, hyper-inflation and the surge in food prices, urban food insecurity remains a grave concern. To illustrate the point, an assessment was conducted in Juba urban areas (including Kator, Juba town, and Munuki) in September 2017, to understand the food security and nutrition status of the urban population, comprising some 1371 households. The survey provided representative estimates of key food security and nutrition indicators for the Juba urban population as well as each of the three blocks within the greater Juba

• Overall, food insecurity affected 76% of the households surveyed. Among them 21% were severely food insecure and 55% being moderately food insecure. This showed a significant deterioration of the situation from September

• Fifty one percent of the households were reported to experience poor food consumption, with 28% on the borderline and only 21% having what would be

• Nearly three-fourth of the households were in a moderate to severe hunger

• Overall, the prevalence of Global Acute Malnutrition was 10.1% (classified as serious by the WHO), a figure that is similar to that seen in the assessments

greater of their total household expenditure on food, thus indicating economic

• The Juba urban population accesses food mainly from the public markets, with about 93% of households reporting markets as their primary source for cereals and only 8% of the population reported cultivating, while a tiny 2% owned

• The percentage of households adopting crisis and emergency strategies to

sources such as rivers (69%) and surface reservours (31%)

latrine, water-seal latrine, flush toilet and open bush, respectively.

○ It was established that most households got their drinking water from unsafe

• In terms of toilet use, 69, 16, 6 and 9% of households used open pit traditional

• Nearly 46% of respondents reported spending an amount of 65–75% or

**84**

livestock.

The Government of South Sudan (GoSS) and its partners should:


Due to lack of data on malnutrition is South Sudan, the estimates for 2020 give the stunting rate for the under-5 s as 31.3%, while wasting for the same age group is 24.3% [41]. The percent of children 6–24 months of age that are breastfed is 45.6%, which is lower than the East African Region level of 59.7%. The data on birth weights, poverty level and under-nutrition is lacking. However, iron deficiency anemia in women is estimated as 34%. The above data was obtained by modeling by UNICEF/World Bank group [41].

In conclusion, the formation of a Government of National Unity by President Salva Kiir and his nemesis Dr. Riek Machar is critical as they work towards ending the conflict, reducing the suffering of the general population, and, allowing peace to prevail for the country to plan its development path.
