In addition to generalized violence and hunger, South Sudan is now in shock of American aid cuts

When Mary Abdullah arrived at Bunj hospital in the north of South Sudan eight days ago with her 13 -month -old daughter, Jote, she feared the worst.

“When I brought her here, I thought … This girl will not survive,” she said.

Weighing only five kilograms, JOTE suffered from anemia and malnutrition, one of the thousands of weights in weight insufficiency in the country of East Africa, where the United Nations estimate that 2.3 million children are hungry.

Abdullah, 30, generally nourishes her family with the money she earns by collecting firewood. Walking seven kilometers from his home in the county of Maban to reach the hospital meant to lose days of income.

Upon arrival, Abdullah noted that since the reduction of some of the funding that the hospital has received from the United States – administered by the UNHCR, the United Nations Refugees Agency – In March, drug deliveries had slowed down and the number of nurses had been reduced in two.

It meant that there was no milk available for Jote that evening.

South Sudan has the third largest oil reserves in sub -Saharan Africa, and its government is almost entirely depends on oil exports to stay afloat. But years of corruption, a five -year civil war, the conflict next to Sudan – the route for these exports – and repeated weather events that have moved thousands of people left most people in South Sudan according to aid.

In 2024, nine million people, or more than 70% of the population, depended on a form of foreign assistance, according to the UN. Now, this dependence collided with the narrowing of resources and a hunger crisis.

The UN star 7.7 million people face food insecurity This year. It comes just like the United States, which according to the Center for Global Development 40% of the country Help, announced A major scale of foreign aid.

In January, President Donald Trump interrupted the majority of American foreign aid. More than 80% of USAID programs worldwide were canceled by March and the agency closed in July. Analysts say that these funding reductions could cause millions of deaths by illness such as malnutrition, tuberculosis and malaria in the coming years.

Unpaid staff

The pressure is visible at the Bunj hospital, the main installation of the county of Maban, less than 20 kilometers from the Sudanese border. The midwife Awative Dawa says that certain drugs and essential equipment that have arrived monthly – such as sterile equipment used in blood transfusions – are now exhausted.

“I am so worried because they are very important drugs, and it’s wild,” she said.

When the CBC went at the end of August, the nurses, the doctors, the cleaners and the administrative staff were on strike, leaving already dirty and naked districts without supervision. They had not been paid for six months, said nurse Jacob Zachariah Kamis.

“My children at home are very hungry,” he said. His salary not only supports his nine children but also other parents.

In cities like Juba, Bor and Maban, health officers and humanitarian agents told CBC News that they supported up to 50 family members with their salary. Aid at the national level represents approximately one Gross national income quarter.

Kamis says he is torn between his patients and an obligation to his family.

“I am a nurse. I work to save people’s lives … If I leave my job, the people of the hospital will suffer. So it will not be easy,” he said.

Canadian Danny Glenwright from Save The Children said the group has lost almost a third of its South Sudan budget due to American aid reductions.

“Our sector is in shock at the moment of massive cuts, and yet the needs have increased considerably-due to the prolonged crisis, climate change and the increase in the cost of living,” he said.

Help cuts in the middle of other challenges

For local NGOs, the blow was devastating.

Gloria Soma, executive director of the Titi Foundation, said that almost half of South Sudan national aid organizations have been to close since March. She said that her group – which focuses on employment possibilities, education and food security – has lost $ 3.5 million in UNICEF cane funds, which disappeared when the United States has withdrawn.

“It takes so much time and so many years of hard work to prove your proven worthy of this fund as a local actor. Then suddenly, we tell you:” It’s over “,” said Soma. “It’s pretty frustrating.”

A large part of this money was aimed at supporting the influx of refugees from Sudan, where the war has moved millions of people since 2023. South Sudan now has welcomed more than 500,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly Sudanese, alongside more than two million people who are displaced internally. This year, the United Nations Agency for Refugees lost 30% of its funding in South Sudan due to the USAID discounts.

“The influx was high and the needs were extreme,” said Soma. “We already have our own challenges as a nation. This fund was (intended) to reduce this burden a little.

“The one who takes all these decisions is kilometers away and does not see the impact on the field.”

Foreign help cuts came when the country suffers from a economic crisisClimatic chocks like floods and resurgence of ethnic violence.

“ This year is the worst of all time ”

In the Doro refugee camp, near the northern border with Sudan, Aisha Ajab Root a life by cooking and washing dishes at the reception center, through which thousands of Sudanese have passed since the trigger of the nearby civil war in 2023. His salary no longer covers the cost of food for his family.

“This year is the worst of all time,” she said.

According to the African Development Bank, 92% of the South Sudan population now lives below the poverty line, an increase of 12% compared to last year.

“Because of the rainy season … We cultivated, but the seeds have not germinated,” said Ajab.

South Sudan is one of the countries most vulnerable to extreme weather events such as floods. A particularly heavy rainy season this year has hampered agricultural production, as the UN expects More than 400,000 people to move by “deadly” floods at the end of the year. The country has also been fighting against its worst cholera epidemic for decades, which has already made more than 1,400 lives this year.

Look | South Sudan in the face of the 2nd largest crisis in world hunger:

South Sudan faces the 2nd-third hunger crisis in the world

South Sudan faces one of the most serious hunger crises in the world – second behind Gaza. According to the World Food Program, 7.7 million people are faced with malnutrition, according to the World Food Program, acided workers say that funding for the United States has removed the backbone of the country’s health system.

In addition, the country remains politically unstable seven years after the end of a civil war which killed more than 400,000 people. A fragile peace agreement Has hampered efforts to establish a stable government and a robust civil society and led to a volatile security situation.

A recent resurgence of fighting in the north of the country has reduced the keys to the aid supply and forced 165,000 at their home, pushing more people hungry and needs.

“Political failures”

Humanitarian workers claim that dependence on the aid of aid combined with the reduction of financial support has postponed the hope of greater stability and security, which would allow the country to be less dependent on foreign donors.

“We were always supposed to be replaced,” said Jason Matus, a development consultant who spent his 30 -year career working with South Sudan, foreign NGOs who provide many services on South Sudanese.

He said that the aid sector was to be replaced “by a responsible and responsive government to his people, by an ethical private sector, by a coherent and empathetic society and by a physical environment capable of managing requests for people to survive”.

Last week, UN investigators accused Sudan authorities in the South of siphoning billions of dollars in public funds since independence in 2011. In a report published on Tuesday, the United Nations Human Rights Commission in South Sudan said that officials would have used several regimes to divert large sums from state revenues over the past decade.

“The (aid) sector has not failed because there are no humanitarian solutions to humanitarian problems. These are policy failures,” said Danny Glennwright.

“Everything costs more money to make, and we have less money than ever to do it.”