Most of Sudan's Population Faces Hunger

For the past two years, Sudan has been embroiled in an internal conflict that has displaced more than a million people to South Sudan, and 12.4 million people have become internally displaced. The United Nations has stated that 57% of the Sudanese population is facing "a high level of acute food insecurity."

Sudan is one of five of the world's most serious areas that the UN has designated as "most concerning" and "trapped in a worsening cycle of conflict, climate shocks, and economic decline."

The situation is likely to worsen further in the coming summer months, as fighting continues, floods are frequent, and economic conditions deteriorate.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently released a report analyzing current data and forecasting food insecurity trends. The report highlighted that if these five countries – Sudan, South Sudan, Palestine, Mali, and Haiti – do not receive immediate humanitarian assistance, they face a high risk of famine and mortality.

Hunger, as emphasized by FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, is not a distant threat: "It is a daily emergency for millions of people. We must act now and together to save lives and ensure livelihoods."

Conflicts Leading to Hunger

The WFP and FAO report revealed that famine is primarily caused by conflicts, which are further exacerbated by climate and economic challenges. Jean-Martin Baucer, FAO Director for Food Security Analysis, pointed out that famine is occurring in Sudan and the risk of famine is increasing in Gaza. He further stated that "all these problems are caused by conflicts and the lack of access to humanitarian aid."

It is expected that the entire population of Gaza, approximately 2.1 million people, will face a food security crisis in the coming months due to ongoing military operations, with nearly 500,000 people at risk of catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

A worker prepares to drop food aid from a cargo plane in the airspace over the city of Nasir, which has been devastated by fighting between local militias and the army, as part of an operation organized by the American company Fogbow, which provides airdrops with financial support from the government of South Sudan.

A worker prepares to drop food aid from a cargo plane in the airspace over the city of Nasir, which has been devastated by fighting between local militias and the army, as part of an operation organized by the American company Fogbow, which provides airdrops with financial support from the government of South Sudan.

The mother and artist Sawsan explained to the WFP that she and her four children were displaced and lost everything as a result of the conflict in Gaza. To feed her children, Sawsan is now grinding pasta and baking it into bread.

Impending Deadline

People in places like Gaza and Sudan have been denied assistance because humanitarian food operations are facing shortages and are "geographically hindered by security crises that make delivering aid simply too dangerous." The WFP and FAO are calling on the international community to significantly increase funding for humanitarian food and nutrition assistance in the coming months, and to work towards ending the violence. [Image: Trucks transport WFP aid to Tawila in North Darfur, Sudan] Caption: Trucks transport WFP aid to Tawila in North Darfur, Sudan. Cindy McCain, Executive Director of the WFP, emphasized that "urgent and sustained investments in food assistance and recovery support are crucial, as the window of opportunity to avert an even more devastating famine is rapidly closing." Kielce Gussie, Vatican.