UN rushes aid to flood-hit southern Sudan

United Nations humanitarian agencies are rushing food and health kits to southern Sudan where heavy rainfall in recent days has affected nearly 10,000 people, some of whom have sought shelter in public buildings.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has so far helped distribute 1,500 kits of non-food items, including anti-diarrhoea medicines and oral rehydration salt, along with 15-day supplies of food rations from the UN World Food Programme (WFP), UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told a news briefing. An additional 600 survival kits are on their way to the area by barge.

UNICEF has also provided drugs for distribution by mobile clinics, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is preparing a Flash Appeal, which it expects to launch next week.