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Action Against Hunger has developed its water and sanitation expertise over nearly three decades of field work, advancing a number of solutions for populations at risk from water insecurity.
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Central to the targeting of malnutrition, Action Against Hunger extends water and sanitation improvements to communities with little or no access to proper sources.
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Action Against Hunger's programs are sustainable because of our commitment to community participation—to build local capacity and harnesses a population's energy and resources.
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Though strategies may vary, our food security interventions all share a common goal: to fight hunger by preserving and strengthening livelihoods in a sustainable and contextual manner.
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Action Against Hunger’s innovative food security programs offer a broad range of solutions for generating income, boosting food production, and strengthening livelihoods.
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Our comprehensive approach to hunger involves extending water and sanitation services to communities faced with water scarcity, unsafe drinking water, and inadequate sanitation.
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Action Against Hunger occupies a unique place among international organizations: our expertise encompasses emergency relief, longer-term development, and the terrain in between.
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We have developed an effective method to treat acute malnutrition that includes field-tested protocols and nutritional products backed by an international scientific advisory committee.
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Action Against Hunger helps rehabilitate and restock public health infrastructure, fields mobile health clinics, and trains local medical personnel on preventative and diagnostic care.
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Our comprehensive programs address the linkages between disease and malnutrition by coordinating with local expertise and strengthening existing public health systems.
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Another Niger? Emergency in Southern Sudan Ignored
Amidst donor fatigue and an emergency-saturated media, the world ignores the nutritional crisis in Southern Sudan
September 14, 2005
New York, NY — Once again a population faces starvation—and disastrously, once again no one is paying attention.

 Malnutrition levels in southern Sudan have once again surpassed the emergency mark, according to a report from the international aid organization Action Against Hunger (ACF). Yet despite the current nutritional crisis (and despite routinely surpassing emergency levels for three years running), concerted international action has been scant and few resources have been dedicated to addressing the emergency and long-term needs of the populations in southern Sudan.
Action Against Hunger's recent nutritional assessment of southern Sudan shows that malnutrition levels are dangerously high, even in a country that consistently surpasses emergency levels.

Sudan: A Nutritional Crisis by Any Standard

The Action Against Hunger (ACF) report shows alarmingly high rates of moderate and severe malnutrition, or global acute malnutrition (GAM), throughout the region. The overall rate of GAM is 20.7%, above the 15% emergency threshold and equaling the rates of malnutrition currently observed in Niger. However, the report also shows that in certain areas of Upper Nile and Bahr-el-Ghazal regions the malnutrition rates have reached up to 39% and 64%.

    "The nutritional situation in southern Sudan is dire by any standards," said Roger Persichino, Desk Officer at Action Against Hunger. "Rates show a prevalence of malnutrition comparable to what we have in Niger or in Darfur. But it seems that nobody cares or, maybe worse, that everybody has gotten used to it."

Indeed, there seems to be a general world impression that southern Sudan is not suffering from a nutritional emergency. Although for the past three years the Global Acute Malnutrition rates in southern Sudan have been at or above 20%, and three of the last five famines during the 20th century occurred here, most international aid coming into the region is slated for long-term development, not for alleviating the current nutritional crisis. Says Persichino, focusing on re-development of the area will be beneficial, but jumping ahead without addressing the current situation or putting in place a foundation for dealing with emergencies shows a disturbing complacency.

 "Southern Sudan is a place where people are used to absurdly high rates of malnutrition, and it's not acceptable," said Persichino. "We're looking at a place that is literally on the verge of a famine every year."

Avoiding Another Niger

To put the crisis in southern Sudan in perspective, the malnutrition rates are at or above the rates currently observed in Niger.

Until recently, Southern Sudan suffered from a 20-year civil war that left an estimated 2 million people dead, mostly through disease and hunger, and drove millions more from their homes. Having signed a comprehensive peace agreement on January 9, 2005, the government of southern Sudan now faces the challenge of rebuilding areas once devastated by this conflict and meeting the needs of those now returning to the homes they fled.

Yet the improving political situation in southern Sudan may actually be worsening the crisis—scarce resources, sporadic localized conflicts, poor local infrastructure, and insufficient health facilities have left much of the returning population with few or no resources.

Few international resources have been dedicated to addressing the emergency and long-term needs of the populations in southern Sudan. ACF implores the international community to assume its responsibilities in order to avoid another Niger in the Sudan.

About Action Against Hunger

Action Against Hunger / Action Contre la Faim (ACF), an international relief and development organization committed to saving the lives of malnourished children and families, provides sustainable access to safe water and long-term solutions to hunger. For nearly three decades, ACF has pursued its vision of a world without hunger by combating hunger in emergency situations of conflict, natural disaster, and chronic food insecurity.

Press Contact

Action Against Hunger - USA

James L. Phelan
Senior External Relations Officer, ACF-USA
Contact James Phelan
Direct: 212-967-7800 x108
Cell: 646-265-7796