Sudan: the food crisis is becoming increasingly serious, over 37 percent of the population has difficulty obtaining daily food

ROMA – The conflict in Sudan, together with the deterioration of the local economy and the difficulties in distributing humanitarian aid due to general insecurity, has plunged approximately 37 percent of the population, or 18 million people, into an acute food crisis. Every day millions of mothers and fathers don’t know how and where to find food for their children and every day thousands of people fall asleep without having eaten even once. The food crisis in Sudan is not a future concern but a living and painful reality, now in many areas of the country.

The data disclosed. The latest monitoring carried out last December in the country to verify whether and how many people are able to access adequate nutrition revealed that 18 million Sudanese are facing levels of acute food insecurity, 10 million more than in the previous period to April 9, 2023, when the war began. Among these, five million risk facing catastrophic levels of hunger because they are already on the brink of famine, while more than 730,000 children suffer from severe malnutrition. The Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET), a network created by the US State Department and the US Agency for International Development, has raised famine warnings in parts of Sudan, particularly in West Darfur, Khartoum and areas of Greater Darfur.

Those malnourished children under 5 years old. In their clinics, the International Red Cross (ICRC) has seen a 175 percent increase in children under five suffering from malnutrition since the start of the conflict. The IRC says the food security situation in Sudan is disastrous and the near future, with the lean season coming, does not bode well. The conflict has affected people’s ability to farm and therefore earn income, destabilized markets, led to massive displacement and limited people’s access to humanitarian aid, leaving millions without sufficient food.

The situation on the field. Most experts agree that the reality on the ground is probably much more serious than the data itself suggests, since the most needy populations, namely those of Darfur, Khartoum and Kordofan, are also the most difficult to reach. This makes it difficult not only to obtain accurate data, but also to provide aid. The country has also suffered several communications blackouts in recent months, with cellphones and the internet out of order, which has caused a further problem for the management of humanitarian assistance.

Malnutrition. In the coming weeks, approximately 222,000 children could die because they do not eat enough to grow, develop and maintain a healthy immune system. A severely malnourished child is twelve times more likely to die from common diseases such as diarrhea and cholera, because by losing weight he also becomes much more fragile. Yet these children can regain their life and strength with a simple solution: a fortified peanut paste that would allow 90 percent of them to feel better in just a few weeks of treatment. But without an immediate cessation of hostilities, as also requested by the United Nations Security Council in resolution 2724, and unlimited access to aid, everything becomes more difficult.

The funds. The humanitarian crisis in Sudan is also woefully underfunded. Today, the United Nations requests for Sudan are only 5 percent met: the funding deficit is 2.56 billion dollars.