Seoul, May 16 : Nearly 19.5 million people in Sudan are facing crisis levels of acute food insecurity, a UN spokesperson said, citing the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

While 14 areas are at risk of famine across Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan, conditions are expected to deteriorate further during the lean season between June and September, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, told a daily briefing on Friday (local time).

Meanwhile, humanitarian assistance remains critically inadequate compared with the scale of needs, he said.

Between February and May, humanitarian partners aimed to reach 4.8 million people per month, but only an estimated 3.13 million people received assistance in February, Haq said.

FAO, WFP, and UNICEF have called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and urged the international community to urgently scale up funding for food, emergency food production, nutrition, health, and water and sanitation services, as well as support for actions to rebuild livelihoods, the spokesperson added.

Earlier on May 13, UN humanitarians said that aid is being distributed in war-torn southwestern Sudan, while an amount of 12 million US dollars is targeted for famine relief in the neighbouring country of South Sudan.

"The UN and its humanitarian partners continue to respond to humanitarian needs across Sudan," said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The office said that in the Kordofan region, aid organisations are providing life-saving support to displaced people, refugees and host communities, with water and sanitation assistance reaching some 85,000 people in the localities of Sheikan and Ar Rahad in the state of North Kordofan.

Humanitarians distributed blankets, mosquito nets and other household essentials to 2,000 displaced families in Sheikan, and cash assistance reached 200 families in the Taggat displacement site in April.

OCHA said that in South Kordofan state, nearly 88,000 people, including South Sudanese refugees, displaced people and host communities, received water and sanitation support.

However, the office said it is alarmed that fighting continues to put civilians at grave risk.

/IANS