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World Food Day

On World Food Day, Sudan Hunger Crisis Demands We Act Now

‘It is the biggest humanitarian crisis, and it gets very little attention. It amounts to a kind of indifference about human beings,’ said Mary Robinson at an emergency briefing on Sudan last month in Dublin.

A young patient and his mother make their way from Umdulu Clinic, Umdorein county, South Kordofan State. Photo: Trócaire. A young patient and his mother make their way from Umdulu Clinic, Umdorein county, South Kordofan State. Photo: Trócaire.

There are very valid reasons as to why many people don’t know the scale of what is happening in Sudan. As the conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, and now Lebanon deepen, driving immense humanitarian crises closer to home, it can be challenging to get a grip on other emergencies that aren’t covered in the news.

What is Sudan is experiencing now, however, is a crisis of truly historic proportions. Since large-scale conflict broke out in April of 2023, sparking a widespread humanitarian hunger and protection crisis across the country, rates of displacement, disease and hunger in Sudan have skyrocketed.

Over 10 million people have fled their homes since the war broke out, making Sudan the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, affecting more than 5 million children. Over 2 million people have crossed into neighbouring countries as refugees.

Toma, 18, fled her village along with her mother due to Sudan’s war. Her father and brother were killed when armed men came to their farm. She fled with mother and other siblings to an IDP camp in South Kordofan. Photo: Achuoth Deng. Toma, 18, fled her village along with her mother due to Sudan’s war. Her father and brother were killed when armed men came to their farm. She fled with mother and other siblings to an IDP camp in South Kordofan. Photo: Achuoth Deng.

Hunger stalks the land

Over 25 million people across Sudan are facing severe acute food insecurity, and at least 755,000 people facing catastrophic (IPC Phase 5) famine-like levels of hunger. This is means that they could die in the coming months without urgent and decisive action from the international community.

Trocaire’s Response

Trócaire began its work with partners in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan State in Sudan in 2011. Due to increasing needs, we expanded our assistance to neighbouring Blue Nile State in 2022. It was a timely expansion, coming just ahead of the outbreak of conflict in April 2023.

In response to the current crisis, the Trócaire programme has widened from health and nutrition services to a broader programme covering water, hygiene, sanitation, food security, livelihoods, protection as well as cash assistance.

Recently the Canadian Foodgrains Bank committed new funding for Trócaire and partners to provide critical nutrition supplies to thousands of children and pregnant and lactating women. In addition, Trócaire strengthens the organisational capacity of local organisations and institutions like the Secretariats of Health and Agriculture to ensure greater impact and longer- term sustainability of interventions.

The programme is wide-ranging, ambitious, relevant and lifesaving. Last year, Trócaire reached about 435,724 people – this is almost double the number reached in the previous year and included a large number of internally displaced persons who fled due to the ongoing conflict.

Maryann Cornelius with her child, Kalo Musa, being attended to by Umdulu clinic nutritionist, Lydia Musa and Clinic nurse, Eliza Philip. Photo: Trócaire. Maryann Cornelius with her child, Kalo Musa, being attended to by Umdulu clinic nutritionist, Lydia Musa and Clinic nurse, Eliza Philip. Photo: Trócaire.

Vast needs, while the world looks away

Despite the determination of local humanitarian responders, the scale of need in Sudan, and surrounding countries, is immense; it is simply not being met with the sufficient urgency and resources.

On 1 August, famine conditions were confirmed in Zamzam displacement camp near Al Fasher in North Darfur. This was the first time in eight years that formal declaration of famine had been made around the world, yet it registered barely a blip on the news cycle. The crisis in Sudan is perhaps the gravest among a large list of hunger emergencies right now.

World Food Day – A Time for Action

World Food Day is a time for us all, particularly in Ireland with our history of hunger, to remind ourselves to never look away. Ireland has previously used its influence, including at the UN Security Council , to ensure hunger crises around the world are not forgotten. That historic commitment has proven to be of fundamental importance and impact at critical moments in the past, such as in Somalia in 1992 and in Ethiopia in 1984. We must act now, as we did then. The cost of inaction is too high a price to pay.

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