EU contributes EUR 2m to respond to South Sudan refugee crisis in Uganda

The European Union's relief agency has contributed 2 million Euros towards emergency nutrition and education response to the South Sudanese refugee crisis in Uganda.

European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the money would go towards supporting the United Nations Children's Fund's (Unicef) response to the major nutrition and education needs of children within both refugee and host communities.

According to UN figures, over 750,000 South Sudanese refugees have arrived in Uganda since July 2016, with over 950,000 South Sudanese refugees now in the country since the beginning of the South Sudan crisis in December 2013.

Aida Girma, Unicef's Representative in Uganda said considering that 56 percent of the refugees are children, children are the face of the South Sudanese refugee crisis in Uganda.

A recent food security and nutrition assessment conducted in the refugee hosting districts shows high malnutrition rates, stunted development due to chronic malnutrition and high levels of anemia among children and women.

Uganda and the UN are this week scheduled to host an international refugee conference dubbed Solidarity Summit.

The meeting is aimed at raising over 8 billion dollars that would be used over the next four years to cater for the refugees in Uganda.

Uganda is now Africa's leading refugee-hosting country, having jumped from the eighth largest refugee-hosting country in the world in mid-2016 to the third largest today, after Turkey and Pakistan.