Sudan: Famine Prevention Snapshot, May - October 2024

OVERVIEW

More than 25.6 million people are facing acute levels of food insecurity, including 755,000 at risk of famine. While the harvest season typically leads to stabilization in food security, initial indications are that cultivation in critical agricultural production areas has been significantly disrupted for a second consecutive year due to ongoing conflict and mass displacement, historic rainfall and flooding, and disruptions to financing.

Nonetheless, humanitarian partners in Sudan continue to implement the Famine Prevention Plan launched in April 2024 to scale up response to millions of people in acute need. Of the 9.3 million people targeted for support, 6.3 million have received at least some form of humanitarian assistance. While this represents a broad reach in absolute terms, affected populations require access to multiple rounds of multi-sector assistance to meet survival needs. Overall, humanitarian response to famine-risk areas has increased, albeit insufficiently, due to emerging needs.

Looking ahead, partners will continue to focus on scaling up efforts to provide integrated assistance, prioritizing areas in acute need. However, in the context of increasing humanitarian needs and a simultaneous rise in operational complexity, the humanitarian community's ability to respond to conflict-induced famine needs will be contingent on an enabling access environment, assurances of aid worker safety, and respect for humanitarian principles.