World Food Program: The danger of hunger threatens refugees fleeing from Sudan

In a statement issued today, Monday, the program said that since the outbreak of the conflict in Sudan in April 2023, more than 4 million people have escaped to neighboring countries in search of food, shelter and safety, indicating that families often reach shock and malnutrition and have little in addition to their clothes.

He reminded the program that he was quick to provide emergency aid to refugees fleeing to seven countries, where he provided them with food and cash assistance, hot meals, and nutritional support in the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Uganda. The program also expanded the scope of its support to include the host societies that welcomed the refugees and was generous with them, despite its suffering from the lack of food security.

But the UN program warned that unless new resources are available, the aid it provides to the Sudanese refugees in the Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya may stop in the coming months.

He added that in Uganda, many vulnerable refugees live in less than 500 calories a day – that is, less than a quarter of daily food needs – while new waves of arrivals push refugee support systems to the brink of collapse. In Chad, which hosts about a quarter of the total refugees fleeing from Sudan, food shares will be reduced in the coming months unless additional contributions are obtained soon.

A fully -dimensional regional crisis

Sean Hughes, Emergency Operations Coordinator for the World Food Program for Sudan Regional Crisis, said: “We are facing a fully -dimensional regional crisis that is exacerbated in countries that are already suffering from high levels of food insecurity and conflicts.”.

He added that millions of people fleeing from Sudan are fully dependent on the support of the program, but without additional financing the program will be forced to make more cuts, “Which will leave the most vulnerable families – especially children – at an increasing risk of hunger and malnutrition.”.

According to the program, children are the most vulnerable to the effects of extended food insecurity. World acute malnutrition rates among refugee children in reception centers in Uganda and South Sudan have exceeded the emergency threshold, as many children suffer from malnutrition even before they arrive to receive aid.

The program needs just over $ 200 million to continue the emergency response to Sudanese refugees in neighboring countries during the next six months. It also needs an additional $ 575 million to carry out its life -saving operations inside Sudan.

The program official said that “Human support alone will not put an end to the conflict and forced displacement, as there is an urgent need for an urgent political and diplomatic move at the global level to end the fighting and achieve peace and stability.”.