JUBA, South Sudan, 28 March 2025 - Rising violence and political tensions in South Sudan are creating a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation with serious implications for the country’s most vulnerable.
As conflict deepens in Upper Nile State and political uncertainty grips the nation, more than 9 million people are affected including 2.4 million women of reproductive age with hundreds of thousands at risk due to lack of access to sexual and reproductive health and protection services.
UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, is on the ground responding, despite serious challenges. Ongoing violence, intercommunal clashes, and a collapsing economy are compounding an already dire humanitarian situation, with over two-thirds of the population requiring urgent assistance.
Recent armed clashes between government forces and militias, the reported house arrest of high-level opposition figures, and a sharp deterioration in public services following the halt in oil production have pushed the country closer to renewed civil war. The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has called on all parties to recommit to the peace agreement and halt hostilities immediately.
UNFPA continues to deliver life-saving services from its offices in Juba, Bentiu, and Wau, including support to pregnant women, survivors of gender-based violence, and displaced communities even as insecurity and underfunding hamper operations.
From dignity kits to emergency reproductive health services, every intervention we deliver is a lifeline — but we need urgent support to do more.
“Women and girls bear the brunt of this crisis,” said Suzanne Mandong, UNFPA Country Representative a.i. “From dignity kits to emergency reproductive health services, every intervention we deliver is a lifeline — but we need urgent support to do more.”
In Nasir, a hotspot of violence, UNFPA has mobilized 3,000 dignity kits and 12 reproductive health kits for delivery, pending security clearance. Five mobile health teams are providing SRH services in remote areas, while seven Women and Girls’ Friendly Spaces are operating nationwide, offering psychosocial care, case management, and safe shelter for survivors.
Meanwhile, UNFPA-supported health facilities across Akobo, Malakal, Wau, Mingkaman, and Juba continue to offer the Minimum Initial Service Package, a critical suite of emergency reproductive health services that includes support for safe deliveries and the clinical management of rape.
The humanitarian funding gap is severe. Only 10 per cent of the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan has been funded. Cuts in U.S. assistance and shrinking donor support have left UNFPA South Sudan with just $1.2 million of the $8.8 million it needs to meet immediate needs in the next six months. Without urgent funding, women’s and girls’ lives and health are at further risk.
