Attachments
HIGHLIGHTS
- In 2025, 30.4 million people require urgent assistance in the Sudan,1 up from 24.8 million in 2024, a 23 per cent increase.2 Despite the extreme situation and millions of people requiring assistance, the response in the Sudan remains critically underfunded, jeopardizing the well-being of vulnerable children and families.
- More than 15.6 million children are affected by the crisis.3 They face violence, including abuse and exploitation, along with forced displacement, malnutrition and disease outbreaks.
- More than 3 million children are at risk of deadly epidemics due to collapsing health systems,4 and 24 million people face acute food insecurity, with famine devastating five regions and putting hundreds of thousands of children at risk of starvation.5 Seventeen million children are out of school.6
- UNICEF’s three-pronged (plus) strategy7 targets conflict zones, displaced communities, returnees, refugees and host communities, aiming to support critical life-saving and lifesustaining services for all. UNICEF requires $1 billion in 2025 to support 13.1 million people, including 8.7 million children
HUMANITARIAN SITUATION AND NEEDS
The extreme humanitarian crisis in the Sudan – prolonged conflict, widespread displacement, acute food insecurity, disease outbreaks and the collapse of essential services – has left more than 30.4 million people (half of them children) requiring urgent assistance in 2025.12 The displacement crisis in the country is the largest in the world: nearly 11.6 million people, more than half of them children, have been forced to flee their homes.
A rapidly worsening food crisis has caused acute food insecurity affecting more than 24.6 million people.14 Disrupted markets, damaged infrastructure and poor harvests have made food unaffordable for the majority of people, pushing malnutrition in the Sudan to critical levels.15 In 2025, 770,000 children are projected to be at immediate risk of severe wasting without urgent intervention.16 Untreated, this condition can lead to death and cause irreversible physical and cognitive damage. Children in conflict-affected and hard-to-reach areas, where access to basic services remains severely restricted, are particularly vulnerable.17 Global acute malnutrition rates are above the WHO emergency threshold of 15 per cent. Some areas exceed 30 per cent, signaling famine,18 which has already ravaged several areas,19 while additional parts of the country remain at risk.
The country’s health system is in crisis. Seventy per cent of health facilities are nonoperational due to damage and shortages of critical supplies. Health workers have been unpaid for months, further weakening the already fragile system. Security challenges and restricted access have severely disrupted essential health services, including routine immunization. As a result, approximately 3.4 million children under age 5 are at high risk of disease outbreaks.
Widespread destruction of infrastructure has left millions without access to essential services, including health care, education and safe drinking water. Women and girls continue to face the threat of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, abduction and enslavement, reportedly perpetrated by the warring parties.22 Seventeen million children are out of school, deepening the cycle of poverty and vulnerability.23 The collapse of water and sanitation systems has contributed to a rise in waterborne diseases, with one third of the population lacking access to safe drinking water.24 The upsurge of malaria cases is particularly alarming: the Sudan accounts for 41 per cent of all malaria cases and 49 per cent of malaria-related deaths, with an average of 10,000 malaria cases and 21 deaths each day.