Number of severely malnourished children doubled in North Darfur: UNICEF

Khartoum, July 11 (IANS) The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Friday that the number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in Sudan's North Darfur region has doubled as a result of the country's ongoing military conflict.

In a statement, UNICEF reported a 46 per cent increase in the number of children receiving treatment for SAM across Sudan's five Darfur states between January and May 2025, compared to the same period in 2024, Xinhua news agency reported.

"In North Darfur alone, more than 40,000 children were admitted for treatment for SAM in the first five months of the year -- double the number for the same period last year," according to the statement.

"In nine out of 13 localities, the rate of acute malnutrition has surpassed emergency levels set by the World Health Organization," it noted.

"Children in Darfur are being starved by conflict and cut off from the very aid that could save them," Sheldon Yett, UNICEF representative for Sudan, was quoted in the statement as saying.

According to UNICEF, the situation was equally alarming in other parts of the country as SAM admissions rose by more than 70 per cent in North Kordofan, by 174 per cent in Khartoum State, and by 683 per cent in Gezira State.

UNICEF warned that, with Sudan now in the peak of the lean season, the risk of mass child mortality is growing rapidly in areas already near famine thresholds, adding that cholera outbreaks, measles cases, and collapsing health services are compounding the crisis.

Sudan remains gripped by a civil conflict, which erupted in April 2023. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions, both internally and across borders, deepening the country's humanitarian crisis.

--IANS

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