The World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday warned that millions of Sudanese people who took refuge in neighbouring countries face worsening hunger and malnutrition due to severe funding shortages.
While giving a briefing in New York on Monday, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said children are especially at risk, with malnutrition rates breaching emergency levels.
“Since conflict erupted in April 2023, over four million people have left Sudan with little more than the clothes on their backs in search of food, shelter, and safety. Yet they are being met with more hunger, despair, and limited resources on the other side of the border,” he said. “WFP is doing the utmost by providing emergency food, cash, and nutrition support across seven countries hosting the refugees, but resources are running out.”
“To zoom in closer into the dire situation, in Uganda, refugees survive on less than 500 calories a day, that is less than a quarter of daily nutritional needs,” Dujarric added.
He said that in Chad, which hosts almost a quarter of the four million refugees who fled Sudan, food rations will be reduced in the coming months unless new contributions are received soon.
“WFP urgently needs over $200 million for regional refugee support and $575 million for operations inside Sudan,” Dujarric stated. “Immediate international funding and no less importantly, a political action to end the crisis are urgently needed for the people of Sudan.”