Sudan today is confronting the possibility of preventable human death on a massive scale. The framework for responding has dramatically deteriorated in the last year. The scope of the disaster is essentially nationwide with 9 to 11 million people in jeopardy of starvation. About half of the at-risk population is war-related, and half drought-related— but the two forces are interacting to produce the level of vulnerability. This contrasts somewhat with the at-risk population in 1988, which was made up primarily of war affected southerners, of whom a quarter-of-a-million died.