USAID Provides Additional Emergency Food Assistance to Millions of Sudanese People

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, May 27, 2015
USAID Press Office
Telephone: +1.202.712.4320 | Email: USAIDPressOfficers@usaid.gov | Twitter: @USAIDPress

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In an effort to continue essential support for millions of the world's most food insecure people, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) delivered another 47,500 metric tons of sorghum to Sudan. This food, supplied through USAID's Office of Food for Peace, will support the UN World Food Program's (WFP) efforts to feed millions of Sudanese children and displaced persons suffering from hunger and malnutrition.

In Sudan, WFP provides 3.7 million people with emergency food and nutrition assistance.  USAID's sorghum delivery will enable WFP to continue providing critical assistance to those in need, including 1.8 million displaced persons in Darfur. This food assistance is especially critical for feeding some of the world's most food insecure kids, including half a million children in Darfur, and approximately 262,000 children in central and eastern Sudan through WFP's school feeding program. To help reach people in need during the June-to-October rainy season, a portion of these commodities will be prepositioned in remote areas of South Kordofan and White Niles States, where ongoing conflict and recent clashes continue to displace vulnerable populations.

Since the early 1960s, the United States has partnered with WFP to fight hunger and malnutrition in Sudan, and remains the largest donor of food assistance to the Sudanese people.  To date in Fiscal Year 2015, the United States has provided more than $119 million in humanitarian assistance, including roughly $56 million to WFP. This most recent shipment of sorghum complements a previous USAID contribution of more than 78,500 metric tons of sorghum, lentils, and vegetable oil that arrived in late 2014.