Major international response needed to prevent further catastrophic hunger in Sudan

With the UN declaring the first famine in 7 years, with over half a million people in the Zamzam camp of North Darfur, Sudan, experiencing famine, a major response by the international community is urgently needed to prevent further catastrophic levels of hunger in Sudan with over 25 million people currently facing crisis conditions, Concern Worldwide warned today.

“We are now in a race against the clock to reach and assist as many people as we can,” Dr. Khan said. Humanitarian organizations are working to move food, nutrition and health supplies and agricultural inputs and ramp up cash assistance programs. The IPC estimates that 755,000 people will face famine-like conditions in Sudan in the coming months.

The reopening of the Adre crossing on the Chad-Sudan border last month has made it possible to deliver larger quantities of critical humanitarian aid to the eastern parts of Sudan. Between August 20th to 30th, 59 aid trucks carrying medical, food, nutrition, emergency shelter, and essential household items crossed to Darfur via the border crossing. The supplies are estimated to reach nearly 195,000 people in acute need in different parts of the country.

“We are now in a race against the clock to reach and assist as many people as we can."

But heavy rains and flooding in recent weeks, coupled with ongoing insecurity, are hindering the emergency response, delaying the movement of vital aid and making clinics and distribution points harder to access. The rains are also fueling rising cases of malaria and cholera. An estimated 258,000 people have been impacted by the floods.

“We are currently working to reach more people in the West Darfur and Kordofan regions, including providing vaccination services through our mobile health clinics,” Dr. Khan said. 

“This is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis which is continuing to deteriorate each day,” Dr. Khan said. “A major response by the international community is needed to make the warring parties provide access to humanitarian organizations, across national borders and military frontlines. Humanitarian organizations also need the funding and the resources to respond on the scale that is needed to avert a major humanitarian catastrophe. To date, just 41% of the humanitarian funding required has been provided.”

Since the beginning of 2024, Concern’s team in Sudan has supported over 234,000 people in West Darfur, West Kordofan, South Kordofan and Red Sea State. As part of the emergency response they have:

• Provided emergency nutrition support to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and treated over 10,800 children under-five, suffering from severe/acute malnutrition;

• Supported 57 health facilities across the country, including a number of mobile clinics providing basic healthcare services to remote displaced communities which cannot access static facilities;

• Provided cash assistance, food and non-food items to people forced to flee their homes. Non-food items include cooking utensils and hygiene items such as soap and sanitary pads, as well as mosquito nets to help prevent the spread of malaria during the rainy season;

• Rehabilitated water stations at health facilities to provide clean water;

• Vaccinated 800 people for cholera.

  10.3 million Sudanese people have fled their homes to escape the fighting or in search of food, since the conflict began in April 2023. Of these, eight million are within Sudan and 2.3 million have crossed into neighboring countries, such as Chad and South Sudan.

In Chad, Concern is drilling boreholes to supply clean water to displaced people and the host community in Sila Province. Concern has deployed a mobile clinic to one of the largest refugee sites to provide health and nutrition services as well as supporting the surrounding health centers. In addition to water, sanitation and hygiene services, Concern is distributing non-food items and dignity kits in areas where there are new influxes of displaced people.

In South Sudan, Concern teams are screening people for malnutrition, building latrines, and drilling and upgrading boreholes to provide access to clean water for both displaced people and host communities. Concern is providing cash assistance as well as distributing essential non-food items such as plastic sheeting, mosquito nets, blankets, sleeping mats and solar lamps.