Elsevier

The Lancet

Volume 383, Issue 9919, 1–7 March 2014, Pages 769-770
The Lancet

World Report
Aid groups struggle to meet South Sudan's needs

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60122-7Get rights and content

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Crowded camps

South Sudan was already contending with some of the worst humanitarian indicators in the world, exacerbated by a lack of health workers and scarce primary health-care facilities. Now, 2·5 years after the country's independence from Sudan, the conditions for hundreds of thousands of people have taken a step backward.

First there are the wounded—people who were shot in the fighting and others who were injured as they fled. There is still no overall figure, but of the 2700 people MSF hospitalised

Difficult to reach

Most of the country's displaced—at least 650 000 people—did not end up at UN bases. Instead, they fled to remote areas, like the small town of Minkaman in Lakes state. Most face the same risks as the people in the camps, but must do so without the same level of humanitarian assistance, while competing with local communities for limited resources.

Minkaman lies across the Nile River from Bor, the capital of Jonglei state. That town changed hands four times in the fighting. By the time government

Food crisis

The scale of the need is larger than in any of the UN camps and in an area that is more difficult to reach. In early February, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was finally able to deliver a month's worth of food to all of the people displaced in Minkaman. “It's been difficult for them”, says Mireille George, the head of ICRC in the area. “They have received half-rations for January. They have been sharing. It was not enough for sure.”

They are able to deliver the food, says

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