According to the World Food Programme (WFP), over a million South Sudanese have been displaced by the on-going conflict since December.

Here are nine key facts about the hunger crisis in South Sudan.

1. South Sudan ranks as the 11th country in the world for child hunger, with 10% of of the population experiencing severe seasonal food insecurity every year for the past five years with 32.5% of children under the age of 5 underweight.

[The top 10 worst effected countries:

1a)Burundi: 73.4% of the population is believed to be undernourished.

1b)Comoros: 70% of the population are estimated to be undernourished.

1c)Eritrea: 65.4%of population have been classified as undernourished

1d) Ethiopia: In Ethiopia an alarming 40.2% of population are undernourished

1e)Timor Leste: 38% of the population in Timor-Leste are undernourished

1f) Yemen Republic 32.4% of population are undernourished:

1g)Chad: 33.4% of population of the population in Chad are undernourished

1h) Madagascar: 33.4%of the population of Madagascar are undernourished.

1i) Sudan: Around 25% of Sudan’s population is undernourished and hunger is on the rise

1j)Zambia: 47.4%of the population are under nourished - globalcitizen, April 3 2014.]

2. Even before the current conflict, 50.6% of South Sudan’s population lived below the poverty line.

3. South Sudan was making progress against hunger before the conflict. Experts said that 'food security' in 2013 was better than it had been in 5 years.

4. With over a million people forced from their homes, the conflict is reversing some of the progress made recently.  

5. Disruption to trade routes and food markets mean the conflict is increasing hunger even in areas not affected by the fighting.

6. About 60% of South Sudan is inaccessible by road during the rainy season, complicating relief efforts by WFP and other agencies.

7. Around 803,000 people are displaced inside South Sudan. Having lost their livelihoods, almost all need food assistance.

8. Some 270,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries since December. Between 4,000 and 5,000 pour into Ethiopia weekly, many with high rates of malnutrition.

9. WFP has reached more than 502,000 people affected by the conflict so far.  In total, WFP aims to assist roughly 2.5 million people in South Sudan.

WFP continues to provide food by any means possible to those in need.

Source: World Food Programme