Sudan risks becoming the world’s largest hunger crisis in recent history as conflict continues to rage, destroying livelihoods, infrastructure, trade routes and supply chains.

A protracted famine is taking hold – the only place in the world at this level of hunger – and without humanitarian assistance, hundreds of thousands could die.

Famine was first confirmed in August 2024 in Zamzam IDP camp. Hundreds of thousands of lives are at risk. Families trapped inside the besieged state capital, El Fasher, face starvation, with the World Food Programme (WFP) unable to deliver food assistance by road for over a year. 

A total of 24.6 million people (around half the population) are acutely food insecure, while 637,000 (the highest anywhere in the world) face catastrophic levels of hunger.

Over 1 in 3 children are facing acute malnutrition – above the 20 percent threshold for a famine confirmation.

Sudan also faces the worst displacement crisis in the world, with 10 million people forced from their homes by conflict.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is supporting over 4 million people each month and pushing to expand this to 7 million. WFP assistance has helped reduce the risk of famine across six areas in Central Darfur and two areas in West Darfur – where nearly 1 million people have received regular WFP food or cash aid since June 2024. 

However, people in or at risk of famine are concentrated in areas where fighting is at its worst, making access very difficult. 

WFP and partners urge the international community to prioritize funding for humanitarian efforts and to use diplomatic channels to secure a ceasefire and unrestricted access.

We need US$645 million for operations across Sudan until November 2025.

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What the World Food Programme is doing to respond to the Sudan emergency

Emergency response

WFP reached a record of over five million people in May – a major achievement and critical progress in reaching severely hungry families after WFP’s relentless efforts to scale up assistance and expand operational access. WFP is doing everything possible to support people trapped in El Fasher (North Darfur) and Kadugli (South Darfur), where conflict has been raging for more than a year. We have trucks and food ready to move pending assurance of safe passage. WFP continues to provide digital cash support to 250,000 people in El Fasher, but this falls short of massive needs in the city. WFP is also scaling up assistance in areas where conflict has subsided, such as Khartoum State and Al Jazira – where over 1 million people have received assistance in the past three months.

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