The UN's Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has provided 15.5 million US dollars to support top priority humanitarian response activities in areas facing severe food insecurity in South Sudan, the UN humanitarian agency said on Sunday.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest report that the funds will also be used in famine-affected and at-risk counties, as well as those most-affected by recent conflict with high levels of displacement and new and urgent needs.

A boy eats out of a ladle at his home in Ngop in South Sudan's Unity State on March 10, 2017. /VCG Photo‍

"The funds promote an integrated response to severe food insecurity, including emergency livelihoods support, along with treatment of severe and moderate acute malnutrition, emergency health care, increasing availability of clean water and improving hygiene," it said in its Humanitarian Bulletin.

Around 5.5 million people in South Sudan, or almost half of the population, face severe hunger ahead of the lean season, which peaks in July. 

Of these, more than 90,000 face starvation with famine declared in parts of former Unity state, while another one million teeter on the brink. The UN has stressed that this unprecedented situation reflects the impact of ongoing strife, obstacles to delivering humanitarian assistance and declining agricultural production.

(Source: Xinhua)