The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling up emergency food assistance to reach nearly 160,000 people across Sudan following floods that ravaged 17 of the country’s 18 states.

“Rains and floods have been much worse than anyone could have anticipated, causing a national disaster,” said WFP Representative and Country Director in Sudan, Hameed Nuru. “People have lost their homes, farmlands, schools and loved ones. Some of these people have lost everything.”

The flooding is the worst Sudan has seen in nearly a century. According to the Government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission, 650,000 people have been affected since the start of the rains in mid-July.

The U.N. World Food Programme provided a first round of emergency food assistance to 7,200 people and distributions for 40,000 people are currently ongoing.  “WFP is working tirelessly with the Government of Sudan and partners to get food out to the affected people. Together, we are trying to scale up the number of people reached every day,” he added.

The U.N. World Food Programme is planning to distribute two-week rations to flood-affected people in Khartoum, East and North Darfur, White Nile, North and West Kordofan, Red Sea, Sennar and Kassala. As more assessments are underway, the number of flood-affected people requiring food assistance is likely to increase.

With the heavy rains making access to affected areas difficult, the U.N. World Food Programme has facilitated rapid needs assessments and delivery of assistance using the U.N. World Food Programme-managed UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS). Since the start of flood season, the U.N. World Food Programme has participated in some 20 assessment missions to guide interventions and identify people who are most in need. The U.N. World Food Programme has transported three metric tons of food supplies provided by the government to flood-affected people in Bout town in Blue Nile state.

The devastating floods come at a time when hunger levels remain alarmingly high in Sudan with increased and protracted displacement, economic decline and inflation, and high food price hikes, exacerbated by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.N. World Food Programme continues to provide emergency food assistance to ensure critical support reach the people in need.

“WFP is also working to implement all necessary precautions during distributions to minimize the risk of contacting or spreading COVID-19 and ensure the safety of staff and the people we serve,” Nuru said.

The U.N. World Food Programme’s flood response to date has been made possible by the generosity of donors, including German Federal Foreign Office, the United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office, and the United States Agency for International Development.

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The U.N. World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies, building prosperity and supporting a sustainable future for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. | Follow us on Twitter @WFPUSA @wfp_media @WFP_Sudan

Contact: 

• Shaza Moghraby, WFP/New York, Mob. + 1 929 289 9867
• Steve Taravella, WFP/ Washington, Mob.  +1 202 770 5993

KHARTOUM – The Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) David Beasley, today concluded a two-day visit to Sudan where he met leaders of the new government and traveled to Kosti to send off the first three barges to carry humanitarian food supplies down the River Nile to South Sudan since 2011.

“This is a new dawn for Sudan, a Sudan that can positively impact the future of the whole region,” said David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme after meeting the Sudanese Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok. “WFP has been a long-time partner to the Sudanese people, and we’re ready to support the government and the people during this historic moment.”

On his visit to Kosti, Beasley saw the three WFP-contracted barges loading 4,500 tons of food procured locally in Sudan. They then sailed upriver to the South Sudanese towns of Renk, Malakal and Bor. These food supplies are enough to feed 370,000 people for one month. River transport of humanitarian goods between Sudan and South Sudan largely stopped when the border closed after South Sudan’s independence in 2011.

The resumption of river transport was made possible by collaboration between the two governments and a recognition by all parties that the transport of humanitarian assistance is vital to conflict-affected civilians in South Sudan.

Transporting goods up the Nile is cost-effective and provides an alternative to road transport between the two countries – important in the rainy season when roads can become blocked.

WFP has delivered a total of 265,000 tons of humanitarian assistance across land borders to South Sudan since 2014.

This was David Beasley’s second visit to the country since he assumed leadership of WFP in April 2017. During his visit, Beasley also met the Chairman of the Sovereign Council, Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan; Deputy Chairman of the Sudan Sovereign Council, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Hemeti; and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Labour and Social Development and the Deputy Minister of Finance where he discussed Sudan’s historic transition and the need to expand humanitarian access across the country.

The United Nations World Food Programme – saving lives in emergencies and changing lives for millions through sustainable development. WFP works in more than 80 countries around the world, feeding people caught in conflict and disasters, and laying the foundations for a better future.

Follow us on Twitter @WFPUSA

For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):

• Abeer Etefa, WFP/Cairo (on mission to Sudan), Mob. +201066634352
• Belinda Popovska, WFP/Khartoum, Tel. +249 9 1200 2000 (ext. 2125), Mob. +249 912158413
• Abdulaziz Abdulmomin, WFP/Khartoum, Tel. +249 183248001 (ext. 2123), Mob. +249 912167055
• David Orr, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 6513 3179, Mob. +39 340 246 6831

Mutinta Hambayi works for WFP in Malawi. Here she talks about her work as a nutritionist, some of the biggest misconceptions about her job and what she finds most rewarding about her job. 

My role includes…

heading a Nutrition Unit with a diverse Nutrition and HIV portfolio in a large operation in Malawi, reaching 2.8 million people this year. I double up as Project Manager for research on prevention of stunting, which is a partnership with the Children Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). I am also the chairperson of the Donor nutrition security group (Donuts), a consortium of 14 UN and development partners.

The most common misconception about my job is…

that nutrition, or the work around it, is only treating a disease, namely malnutrition.

The thing that it would be most helpful for others to understand about my job is…

that good nutrition is the foundation for an individual, a nation rich or poor and for economic growth. Nutrition is a bed-rock of human well-being, the ultimate realization of Zero Hunger. I see an entry point in everything everyone does because nutrition is a “harmonizing” area. All avenues of WFP programming must have explicit nutrition objectives.

A highlight during my time at WFP was…

by far in Sudan. I was thrown into the deep end of addressing an emergency – the aftermath of the Bahr Gazal war in 2000. You had to think on your toes. I had never seen so many severely malnourished children – it was a whole camp, it was heartbreaking. Fast forward, professionally I currently lead a cutting edge nutrition pilot on stunting.

The most rewarding part of my job is…

simply being a nutritionist in WFP and being able to contribute through an organization that reaches millions of vulnerable people. It feels like such a good fit for me.

The most frustrating part of my job is…

sometimes having little time to “think” and time for brain space. Sometimes I worry that I am just reacting and not applying a thought process for effective and lasting results. There are emerging issues of climate change, urbanization, resilience, social protection and so on which I must take on board for nutrition. As a technical advisor, I must see how my recommendations have far-reaching implications.

The main attributes you need for this job are…

adaptability and personal skills. Nutrition requires that you engage with many players. Of course you need technical competence and to be strategic in thinking, so that you can see and debate for a bigger and better picture – we can’t do nutrition alone.

The advice I’d give someone interested in this type of work is…

nutrition is at a crossroads, for better or for worse. The opportunity to make good is now, when nutrition enjoys a high and unprecedented level of attention globally and within WFP.

Learn more about WFP’s work with maternal and child nutrition.