Sudan: ‘A hunger catastrophe in the making’

By Devin Watkins

“The crisis in Sudan is actually one of the largest displacement crises in the world, and we are really worried that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding right in front of our eyes with the potential of spiraling further out of control.”

According to the UN’s latest statistics, 10 million Sudanese have fled their homes, of whom 1.5 million have taken refuge in nearby countries, such as Chad, Egypt, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Central African Republic.

Nearly 18 million Sudanese are food insecure—meaning they lack regular access to enough food for normal and healthy development—including 5 million people who are facing emergency levels of hunger and risk dying from malnutrition.

Brenda Kariuki, the Senior Regional Communications and Advocacy Officer for East Africa at the UN World Food Programme (WFP), provided those statistics in an interview with Vatican News.

Children facing malnutrition

In terms of education, 19 million children are not in school. Around 45 percent of Sudanese children under 5-years-old are malnourished, which can severely impair a child’s physiological and cognitive growth.

Around a third of pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished, a condition that has dire consequences for themselves and their babies.

These statistics are “jarring and heartbreaking”, according to Ms. Kariuki, representing a high percentage of Sudan’s population of 45.6 million, as of 2021.

“People are hungry; people have no food,” she said. “They barely have any access to healthcare, as three-quarters of the health facilities have been damaged by the conflict.”

Ms. Kariuki pointed out that the current hunger crisis is unfolding during harvesttime, a “season of plenty.”

“So, what happens when we come to the lean season later in the year?” she wondered. “It could be worse. A hunger catastrophe is really likely to happen unless the conflict stops.”

Several aid agencies are involved in distributing food, including the Red Crescent Society

Delivering aid amid violent conflict

The World Food Programme has succeeded in assisting over 6.5 million people since the conflicts broke out in April 2023. Some 1.9 million Sudanese receive food aid and cash assistance in 17 of Sudan’s 18 states.

Yet gaining access to conflict hotspots—such as Khartoum, Darfur, Kordofan, and Gazira State—has proven difficult.

Roadblocks and threats of violence mean WFP can only reach around a third of people facing hunger. Food aid deliveries to Khartoum, for example, ceased entirely in December as fighting intensified.

Dwindling global attention

At the same time, global attention has turned away from Sudan, leaving the people of Sudan are feeling largely forgotten.

“For WFP though, the people of Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad may be invisible to the world, but they're not forgotten for us,” Ms. Kariuki said. “We need to have strong voices speak out on their behalf, like that of Pope Francis when he reminds the world often about forgotten crises like the one in Sudan.”