(MENAFN- AzerNews)
An estimated 3.2 million children under the age of five are
expected to face acute malnutrition this year in war-torn Sudan,
according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF),
Azernews reports, citing Arab News.
“Of this number, around 772,000 children are expected to suffer
from severe acute malnutrition,” Eva Hinds, UNICEF Sudan's Head of
Advocacy and Communication, told AFP late on Thursday.
Famine has already gripped five areas across Sudan, according to
a report last month by the Integrated Food Security Phase
Classification (IPC), a UN-backed assessment.
Sudan has endured 20 months of war between the army and the
paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), killing tens of thousands
and, according to the United Nations, uprooting 12 million in the
world's largest displacement crisis.
Confirming to AFP that 3.2 million children are currently
expected to face acute malnutrition, Hinds said“the number of
severely malnourished children increased from an estimated 730,000
in 2024 to over 770,000 in 2025.”
The IPC expects famine to expand to five more parts of Sudan's
western Darfur region by May - a vast area that has seen some of
the conflict's worst violence. A further 17 areas in western and
central Sudan are also at risk of famine, it said.
“Without immediate, unhindered humanitarian access facilitating a
significant scale-up of a multisectoral response, malnutrition is
likely to increase in these areas,” Hinds warned.
Sudan's army-aligned government strongly rejected the IPC
findings, while aid agencies complain that access is blocked by
bureaucratic hurdles and ongoing violence.
In October, experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights
Council accused both sides of using“starvation tactics.”
On Tuesday the United States determined that the RSF had“committed
genocide” and imposed sanctions on the paramilitary group's
leader.
Across the country, more than 24.6 million people - around half
the population - face“high levels of acute food insecurity,”
according to IPC, which said:“Only a ceasefire can reduce the risk
of famine spreading further.”
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