Has Sudan Reached the Famine Stage?

 Aljazeera published on 29 March 2024 an article titled "Sudan Slips into Famine as Warring Sides Starve Civilians" by Virginia Pietromarchi.

One year since war broke out in Sudan, the article says that interrupted online remittances, soaring food prices, a reduction in local cereal production, and warring factions preventing the delivery of food aid have put Sudan in the middle of a "humanitarian disaster."  The article quotes experts who predict famine will occur in areas such as Darfur by June of this year.

The United Nations published on 20 March 2024 a press release titled "Conflict Between Warring Parties in Sudan Pushing Millions to Brink of Famine, Top UN Officials Tell Security Council, Warning Entire Generation Could Be Destroyed."

Comment:  Neither the Aljazeera article nor the UN officials argue that famine currently exists in Sudan, although both believe it is likely in the next two to three months.  According to the UN, famine is a technical term that exists when three conditions come together in a specific geographic area such as a region or country.  The conditions are: 

--At least 20 percent of the population in that particular area are facing extreme levels of hunger,

--30 percent of the children in the same place are wasted, or too thin for their height, and

--The death rate has doubled from the average, surpassing two deaths per 10,000 daily for adults and four deaths per 10,000 daily for children.

Death Toll for Drought in Somalia

 The Associated Press published on 20 March 2023 an article titled "Report: 43,000 Estimated Dead During Somalia's Drought  Last Year" by Cara Anna.

An estimated 43,000 people died during Somalia's drought in 2022.  As many as 34,000 are forecast to die in the first half of 2023, according to a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.

WHO and UNICEF published a summary of the report titled "From Insight to Action: Examining Mortality in Somalia."

Estimated Death Toll in South Sudan Conflict

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine published in September 2018 a statistical analysis titled "Estimates of Crisis-attributable Mortality in South Sudan, December 2013-April 2018."

The study concluded that the conflict in South Sudan has likely led to nearly 400,000 excess deaths in the country's population since it began in 2013. About half of the lives lost are estimated to be due to violence. Those killed were mostly adult males. In addition, there has been a displacement of an estimated 4.5 million people as refugees and IDPs.