A declaration of famine is rare. It's now happened twice in 2025, this time in Sudan

In this photo from August, aid is distributed to Sudanese in Ombada, who had returned after being displaced by the ongoing civil war. As hunger has continued to mount, a global body has now declared that there is famine in Sudan.

Famine declarations are relatively rare. But the leading international authority on hunger crises this week declared that regions of war-torn Sudan face catastrophic shortages of food.

(Image credit: Ebrahim Hamid/AFP)