The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced yesterday that approximately 3.3 million children in Sudan are at risk of acute malnutrition.
In a statement on X, the UN agency reported that 17 million children have been out of school for nearly two years due to the ongoing war. Adding that five million of them have been displaced.
Lucia Elmi, UNICEF’s emergency programme director, said: “The level of crisis in #Sudan is unprecedented.”
On 13 February, Doctors Without Borders warned that half of Sudan’s population – 24.6 million people – are facing severe food insecurity, including 8.5 million individuals in emergency conditions or near famine.
Sudan has been embroiled in a conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, resulting in over 20,000 deaths and around 15 million displaced persons and refugees, according to the United Nations and local authorities.
However, a study by American universities estimated the death toll to be around 130,000.
READ: UN estimates 3.2m Sudanese children under 5 will face acute malnutrition in 2025