The World Food Programme (WFP) has begun delivering food assistance to the thousands of hungry people in Sudan affected by the fighting in the country.

Development Diaries reports that the UN agency said it hopes to expand the coverage of its food aid to more areas in the country in the coming days despite the enormous security challenges.

WFP had earlier shut down its operations in the country due to the killing of three of its employees.

With the conflict unleashing widespread displacement and hardship, it is feared that the imminent lean period between harvest is certain to intensify food insecurity in the country.

‘For many people, food and other supplies are running low. If they are available, they are way beyond the purchasing power of ordinary Sudanese’, WFP’s Country Director in Sudan, Eddie Rowe, said in a statement.

Before the fighting started, WFP planned to support over seven million people in Sudan with food assistance, but the growing hunger numbers have added to already alarming food insecurity.

‘We now see that up to 19 million people in Sudan – that’s 41 percent of the population –  could struggle to find a meal a day, up from 15 million people last year’, Rowe added.

‘Roughly four million children and pregnant and breastfeeding women were acutely malnourished before the fighting started’.

In line with WFP’s humanitarian support in Sudan, Development Diaries calls on donor organisations to scale up support for the country as the UN entity faces a U.S.$300 million shortfall over the next six months.

Photo source: WFP