IPC warns of growing famine risk in Darfur and Kordofan as war and drought converge in Sudan

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the UN-backed global hunger monitor, said on 12 October that the risk of famine is growing across parts of Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan in Sudan, where war, displacement, a severe El Niño drought and inadequate funding are driving a rapidly worsening situation. It issued the finding as an alert, not as a new famine classification.

The World Health Organization, an IPC member, published a note for media on the alert the same day. The IPC partnership also includes the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization.

What the alert reports

According to UN News’ summary of the alert, a survey of two camps for displaced people in Eastern Jebel Marra, South Darfur, found acute malnutrition among children at 38 and 30.8 per cent, above the famine threshold. Across Greater Darfur, 13 of 17 nutrition surveys carried out since January found critical levels of acute malnutrition. In Nyala, the share of children seeking help who needed treatment for severe acute malnutrition rose from five to 11 per cent between January and August.

The alert says drought now covers more than half of the country and that late-September rains came too late for most cereal crops. Greater Kordofan is described in the alert as the epicentre of the conflict: more than 300,000 people have been forced from their homes there since October 2025, and markets have been hit by more than 170 airstrikes, looting incidents or armed clashes this year. Two trucks contracted by WFP came under fire on 2 and 3 October, and at least one person was killed, the alert says.

The IPC’s Famine Review Committee said there is not enough survey data for a full analysis but that the evidence points to a rapidly worsening situation. “We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe, already of historic proportions,” the committee said.

Health system and funding

WHO said that since 15 April 2023 it has verified 228 attacks on health care in Sudan that caused 2,055 deaths and 817 injuries, and that 37 per cent of the country’s health facilities had stopped functioning by 2026. It said its own humanitarian appeal of US$97.7 million is 23 per cent funded. UN News reported that, as of 8 October, less than half of the overall humanitarian appeal for Sudan had been funded.

The alert calls for an end to the fighting, safe and sustained access for aid agencies, especially in North and West Kordofan, and flexible funding on a large scale.

Related coverage

The Security Council’s separate decision on Darfur sanctions is covered in UN extends Darfur arms embargo by two months as Russia and China oppose a Sudan-wide ban.