The World Food Program (WFP) plans to assist 4.6 million people across Sudan in 2017, The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Sunday.

WFP plans to assist 3.4 million in Darfur and 1.2 million in Central and Eastern Sudan as well as in Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Abyei, an OCHA bulletin said. 

In Sudan, access to food is affected by several factors, including conflict, macroeconomic instability and climate change, according to WFP.

To help meet the basic food and nutrition needs of those affected, WFP provided assistance to 3.9 million people in Sudan during the course of 2016.

As of December 2016, WFP had provided 9,670 metric tonnes (MT) of emergency food to 259,470 newly displaced individuals.

In addition, since the onset of the South Sudan crisis in December 2013, WFP has provided 46,900 MT of emergency food and nutrition assistance to 240,000 South Sudanese refugees in Sudan.

Source: MENA