NEW YORK CITY: The UN on Friday pressed member states to provide urgent financial support to help stave off further suffering in war-torn Sudan, where nearly 34 million people are now expected to need assistance this year — the highest number anywhere in the world.

Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that despite the “extraordinary humanitarian needs,” operations remain perilously underfunded and aid workers face mounting risks.

The UN’s 2026 Humanitarian Response Plan for Sudan calls for $2.9 billion of funding to provide more than 20 million people with life-saving food, nutrition, clean water, health and protection services, and education. But funding lags behind needs, complicating efforts to scale up deliveries of aid.

The civil war between rival military factions in the country, which will enter its fourth year in April, is driving several overlapping emergencies, including acute food insecurity and outbreaks of disease.

According to the UN’s World Food Programme, more than 21 million people in Sudan face high levels of acute hunger, and famine conditions have been confirmed, or are feared to be present, in several regions.

Humanitarian workers continue to face “grave danger,” Dujarric said. In recent months, 92 of them, mostly Sudanese, have been killed, injured, kidnapped or detained, he added, and more than 65 attacks on healthcare providers and patients have been recorded.

Aid groups also warn that conflict-related obstacles, including blockades, drone strikes, and sporadic access restrictions, continue to hamper distribution efforts.

The UN has highlighted the fact that amid the growing displacement of people in North Darfur and North Kordofan, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have been uprooted, water and sanitation services are collapsing in affected areas.

The humanitarian crisis is compounded by regional spillover. Neighboring Chad has closed its border with Sudan amid security concerns, complicating the cross-border flow of aid and threatening already fragile refugee-support systems.

Dujarric warned that without increased donor support and improved access, the skills and commitment of aid workers will not be enough to keep pace with spiraling needs.

“Delivering aid at this scale requires flexible funding and guaranteed humanitarian access, so that workers can reach people in need and they can reach them safely and rapidly and without any obstruction,” he said.