The food security and nutrition situation in Sudan has deteriorated significantly amidst escalating conflict, raising major concern. The IPC analysis released in December 2023 projected that, between October 2023 and February 2024, 17.7 million people in Sudan (37% of the population) faced high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above), of which 4.9 million (10%) were in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency). The unprecedented levels of acute food insecurity recorded by the IPC in 2023 have been driven by the devastating conflict that engulfed the country.

Security threats, roadblocks and protection concerns limit both the humanitarian response and assessments. Due to data gaps in hotspot areas and connectivity challenges, the Sudan IPC Technical Working Group (TWG) has not been in a position to update the IPC analysis released in December 2023. Consequently, this alert has been developed based on the review of the latest evidence available and issued to express major concern regarding the deteriorating situation; and advocate for stakeholders to act immediately to prevent famine. Since this IPC exercise, there has been a significant escalation of the conflict among armed factions and a rise in organized violence beyond the initial IPC assumptions made in previous analyses.