KHARTOUM, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that it is planning to deliver food assistance to around 4.6 people across Sudan.
"In 2017, the WFP plans to assist 4.6 million people across Sudan, including 3.4 million in Darfur and 1.2 million in Central and Eastern Sudan as well as in Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Abyei," said the WFP in a release, a copy of which was obtained by Xinhua on Sunday.
It noted that access to food in Sudan is affected by several factors, including conflict, macroeconomic instability and climate change, pointing out that these shocks and stressors caused recurrent emergencies and exacerbated the existing protracted IDP and refugee crises.
"Unfavorable macroeconomic conditions and climate-related shocks have caused inflation, negatively affecting food prices, with sorghum prices reaching record levels in 2016, 53 percent above the five-year average," it said.
The WFP provided assistance to 3.9 million people in Sudan during the course of 2016.
Additionally, since the onset of the South Sudan crisis in December 2013, the WFP has provided emergency food and nutrition assistance to 240,000 South Sudanese refugees in Sudan.
