The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) have been warning of rapid deterioration in conditions for the people of Sudan, particularly children, as food security is torn apart by war that has ravaged the country for more than a year. Collectively the agencies have mobilised a large-scale humanitarian response inside Sudan and in neighbouring countries where more than 2 million refugees have sought safety.
An immediate ceasefire and renewed international efforts – both diplomatic and financial – as well as unhindered and sustained humanitarian access, are urgently needed to enable the humanitarian response to be further expanded and to allow the agencies to deliver at the speed needed.
The rapid deterioration in food security in Sudan has left 755,000 people in catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5) with a risk of famine in 14 areas, according to the latest Snapshot data released by the Integrated Phase Classification. The worst conditions are in the areas hardest hit by fighting and where people displaced by the conflict have gathered. A total of 25.6 million people are in the high levels of acute hunger (IPC Phase 3+). This means that for half of Sudan’s war-battered population, every single day is a struggle to feed themselves and their families.
This is the first time that catastrophic (IPC Phase 5) conditions have ever been confirmed in Sudan since the IPC’s inception in 2004. Unlike the Darfur crisis of twenty years ago, the present crisis spans the whole country, with catastrophic levels of hunger even reaching the capital Khartoum and Gezira State, once Sudan’s breadbasket.
This new data also shows a stark deterioration for Sudan’s population from the last projection, released in December 2023, which showed 17.7 million people facing acute hunger (IPC Phase 3+). This included nearly 5 million people in emergency levels of hunger (IPC Phase 4). Today, 8.5 million people are projected to be in emergency levels of hunger (IPC Phase 4).
FAO, UNICEF and WFP are leading multi-sectoral famine prevention efforts reaching people across Sudan
WFP has reached over 3 million displaced and vulnerable people in Sudan so far this year and is ramping up assistance to reach an additional 5 million people by year-end. WFP is urgently working to expand access and open new humanitarian corridors – from neighbouring countries and across frontlines. WFP has this year delivered food and nutrition supplies for around half a million people in the Darfur region via convoys crossing from Chad – and more convoys carrying food and nutrition supplies for around 250,000 people are planned in the coming weeks. WFP is also pre-positioning assistance at key crossings and supply routes as the rainy season starts when many roads in Darfur and other regions across Sudan become impassable.
After reaching 3.8 million people in the first half of the year through winter seed distributions and vaccination, FAO is now preparing to support more than 1.8 million farming and pastoral households in Sudan, equivalent to 9 million people, to resume livelihood activities and produce food locally. FAO has purchased almost 8,000 tons of cereal seeds (sorghum and millet) and will reach over 870,000 farming households across Sudan, including in Darfur and Kordofan, where food insecurity has reached catastrophic levels. FAO's experience shows that even in conflict settings when farmers can access land and inputs, they will produce food.
Since the conflict started in April 2023, UNICEF has reached close to 5.5 million children with nutritional screening and more than 322,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition with lifesaving treatment. UNICEF is scaling up multi-sectoral response alongside humanitarian partners to prevent more child deaths, reaching over 5 million people with access to safe water, and vaccinating over half a million children against measles in the first five months of this year. UNICEF is also getting children back into learning, providing cash to over 350,000 pregnant and lactating women and their families, and making all efforts to protect children from violence, separation, and trauma.