Independent from Sudan since July 2011, South Sudan has been embroiled in civil war much of its history.  Nearly 400,000 South Sudanese were estimated to have died as a result of conflict that began in December 2013, about half through violence, according to a 2018 analysis by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.  Atrocities and widespread attacks on civilians, including rampant sexual violence, have defined the conflict.  An initial peace agreement signed in 2015 failed.  A revitalized agreement signed in 2018 led after many delays to the formation of a transitional government of national unity in February 2020, just weeks before COVID-19 reached South Sudan.  

At the height of the conflict, 4.5 million of South Sudan’s approximately 12 million people were displaced.  In 2020, 3.9 million remain displaced, 2.2 million as refugees in neighboring countries.  An estimated 7.5 million South Sudanese need humanitarian assistance, including 6.5 million who need food assistance (more than half the population).  South Sudan also hosts 300,000 refugees, mostly from Sudan. 

USAID has worked in South Sudan for decades, providing lifesaving humanitarian assistance, conflict mitigation assistance, essential services such as health care and education, and support for key milestones of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which culminated in South Sudan’s independence.  The U.S. Government has committed nearly $48 million for COVID-19 response in South Sudan.