Resource shortages limit food aid

Food distributions in both northern and southern sectors were significantly down on estimated requirements in May, as they had been in March and April, due to shortfalls in the food pipeline, Fridays WFP emergency report stated. In May, WFP delivered 6,795 mt of food by air and transported 5,232 mt of food aid by road, representing an increase of about approximate 48 percent on April tonnage, it said. The agency had estimated the country’s food delivery requirements for May at 28,531 mt.

The humanitarian situation was now deteriorating rapidly in the drought-affected areas of central, western and southern Sudan, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies reported last week. After poor donor response to both the UN Consolidated Appeal and the Red Cross appeal, the impact of severe underfunding could now be found in rising malnutrition rates and increasing distress migration, with a resulting impact on security, notably tribal clashes and robbery, it said. “The possibility of diseases spreading from contaminated water sources is [also] increasing,” it added.