More than 450,000 children in South Sudan are at risk of acute malnutrition, according to UNICEF. The escalating conflict, which began in December 2025, has displaced over 280,000 people and led to the closure of numerous health facilities, along with widespread looting of nutrition supplies.

UNICEF reports that 17 health facilities across the country have been forced to shut down due to the ongoing conflict, resulting in the suspension of essential nutrition services. Furthermore, there have been 10 confirmed cases of looting targeting health and nutrition supplies, with half of these incidents occurring in Jonglei state.

In Jonglei, six out of nine counties have already exhausted or are nearing depletion of therapeutic food stocks required to treat severely malnourished children. A recent report published on February 2 by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network warns that the intensifying violence in northern Jonglei and Upper Nile states is expected to severely exacerbate food insecurity in South Sudan.