News Center- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) have warned 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.

Sudan is facing a devastating hunger catastrophe on a scale not seen since the Darfur crisis in the early 2000s, warn the heads of three United Nations agencies.

‘An immediate ceasefire is urgently needed’

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, they say.

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.

‘FAO urgently requires USD 60 million’

“The new IPC analysis revealed a deepening and rapid deterioration of the food security situation in Sudan with millions of people’s lives at risk,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu. “We are now delivering life-saving seeds for the main planting season. The clock is ticking for Sudan’s farmers. FAO urgently requires USD 60 million to meet unfunded parts of its Famine Prevention Plan to ensure that people are able to produce food locally and avert food shortages in the next six months.  We must act collectively, at scale, with unimpeded access, for the sake of millions of innocent lives hanging in the balance.”

‘Hunger and malnutrition are spreading at alarming rates’

“WFP’s team in Sudan is working day and night in perilous conditions to deliver lifesaving assistance, yet these numbers confirm that time is fast running out to prevent famine. For each person we have reached this year, another eight desperately need help,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain. “We urgently need a massive expansion of humanitarian access and funding so we can scale-up our relief operations, and halt Sudan’s slide into a humanitarian catastrophe that is threatening to destabilize the wider region.”

“The latest snapshot illustrates the devastating impact the conflict in Sudan is having on the country's children," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Hunger and malnutrition are spreading at alarming rates, and without concerted international action and funding, there is a very real danger the situation will spiral out of all control. There is no time to lose. Any delay in unfettered access to vulnerable populations will be measured in the loss of children's lives.”