Sudan's hunger emergency deepens as aid money dries up: WFP has cut 900,000 people and most families get half rations

Sudan's hunger emergency deepens as aid money dries up: WFP has cut 900,000 people and most families get half rations.

One of the world's worst hunger crises is getting worse in Sudan, and the money to fight it is shrinking. The United Nations said Thursday that half of Sudan's population needs humanitarian aid, warning that "global attention is waning and funding is shrinking" even as needs grow.

World Food Programme figures show the scale. An estimated 33.7 million people in Sudan need humanitarian assistance in 2026, and about 19.5 million, roughly 41% of the population, face acute food insecurity, including 135,000 people in catastrophic conditions, according to a WFP planning document. The risk of famine is present in 14 areas across Darfur and Kordofan. Some 4.2 million people suffer acute malnutrition, including 825,000 children under 5 with the most severe form.

Funding cuts have forced painful choices. In August WFP was feeding more than four million people, including 880,000 in famine-risk areas. Starting in September it began cutting its caseload, and an estimated 900,000 vulnerable people, about 500,000 of them refugees, have lost food assistance, UN News reported. WFP now reaches just over three million people, and most families still receiving help get rations covering only half of their minimum needs.

Insecurity, blocked roads and flood damage are slowing deliveries as fighting intensifies, according to UN News. WFP also warns that El Niño could push another 1.2 million people into acute hunger by the end of the next lean season in August 2027. The crisis is spilling across borders: up to 3,000 refugees and returnees a week are arriving in South Sudan, where 7.8 million people already face acute food insecurity.

WFP's new executive director, after a first field mission to Sudan, described aid as the "only hope" for millions, UN News reported. The agency says it urgently needs $520 million to provide food and nutrition assistance to 5.4 million people through April 2027.

Sudan's emergency rarely leads Western news coverage. The numbers suggest it should.