The world's youngest country is currently in the grips of a horrific famine which is leading to thousands of deaths and millions of displaced people.
South Sudan gained independence from neighbouring Sudan in 2011 but a bitter civil war erupted two years later after feud between the President and his former deputy. On top of that, the region has been affected by the El Nino weather event, where some regions haven't seen rain since 2015.
Last year the World Health Organisation (WHO) noted that economic, agricultural and political conditions were creating a recipe for disaster. The value of their currency has dropped 800 percent, making food unaffordable for many.
Two months after that report, the United Nations found the South Sudanese army wasn't being paid in money and instead were operating on a 'do what you can, take what you can' policy. This allowed them to steal cattle and property as well as rape women and girls as payment for their work.
But instead of environmental conditions being the main factor affecting food supplies, the UN determined a famine was being man-made. Warring factions of government and military groups have been blocking international food aid - resulting in millions of people becoming hungry.
Credit: PA
It wasn't until February this year that the UN declared a famine in parts of South Sudan and stated it could spread rapidly if nothing was done. Nearly five million people reportedly need food urgently and a further 100,000 are close to starving to death.
That was three months ago and little has changed.
Charity Stop the Hunger Now Southern Africa Chief Executive Saira Khan says the situation is dire. He's told Yahoo: "It's pretty gloomy. We're seeing a lot of confusion amongst the NGOs and governments in terms of what needs to be done.
"It's a difficult time for that region -- and if we don't do anything we're going to have six million people dead at the end of this year because of famine."
Credit: PA
The UN says it needs more than $4 billion (£3.09 billion) to remedy the situation but only a little more than a quarter of that has been raised.
The crisis is causing millions to be displaced with many fleeing to neighbouring countries such as Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. It's feared if the famine continues to deepen then this will strain surrounding nations, which are also struggling to cope with environmental conditions.
South Sudan is no stranger to famines. In 1998 more than 70 thousand people died when a similar toxic mix of civil war and human rights abuses combined to cause mass food shortages. Human Rights Watch blamed the Sudanese government and several militias or military groups for exacerbating the situation.
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