The newly released 2025 Standardized Expanded Nutrition Survey (SENS) by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) indicated a deteriorating nutritional situation across refugee camps in the Gambella region, which currently hosts 388,408 individuals, primarily from South Sudan.
Conducted between August and October 2025, the report reveals that Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates have surged past emergency thresholds in several locations.
Specifically, the Kule (24.4 percent), Tierkidi (16.6 percent), and Nguenyyiel (16.6 percent) camps have all exceeded the critical World Health Organization–United Nations Children’s Fund (WHO-UNICEF) emergency threshold of 15 percent. Even in camps like Jewi (11 percent), Pinyudo I (12.9 percent), and Pinyudo II (12 percent), the prevalence remains significantly above the UNHCR target of less than 10 percent.
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The report identifies a severe dependence on general food rations as the primary driver of the crisis. During the survey year, refugees received only 50 to 60 percent of the required monthly food assistance, severely limiting access to a diversified diet. This shortage is exacerbated by a lack of widespread livelihood opportunities, leaving families with few ways to supplement their meals.
In Kule and Tierkidi, where malnutrition rates are highest, the use of negative coping mechanisms reached 73.17 percent and 71 percent, respectively.
The report concludes with urgent recommendations to restore full general food rations to the standard 2,100 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day. Humanitarian partners are urging the reinstatement of Blanket Supplementary Feeding for all children under five and pregnant or lactating women to prevent further decline.
