The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Wednesday that the humanitarian response in Sudan has reached a critical point and that food supplies could be exhausted by next July due to severe funding shortages.
According to a report issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) on May 14, approximately 19.5 million Sudanese are facing acute levels of food insecurity, including 5 million people suffering from extreme hunger.
In its report on activities during May, the WFP stated that “the humanitarian response has reached a critical juncture, as funding gaps have led to severe reductions in assistance, placing millions of people at immediate risk of losing life-saving food and nutritional support.”
The agency projected that food stocks would be depleted by July based on currently available resources. Funding for cash-transfer programmes is also expected to fall by half by the same period.
The WFP explained that it requires $460 million to maintain current levels of the highest-priority assistance and to avoid reducing food rations or cutting the number of beneficiaries over the next six months.
