Attachments
Highlights
- Over 200,000 children were newly displaced in April, reversing March’s temporary decline. Sudan remains the largest child displacement crisis globally, with over 5 million children forcibly displaced.
- Famine conditions have been confirmed in five localities, with projections indicating it could extend to four more by May.
- UNICEF and partners scaled up life-saving support, reaching 2.4 million people with safe water, delivering 12 million vaccines as part of national child survival campaigns, and increasing the screening and referral of children with severe acute malnutrition by 25 per cent compared to the previous month.
- Access restrictions have worsened in El Fasher and large parts of Darfur, severely limiting the delivery of essential services.
- While some critical funding has been secured, 73 per cent of UNICEF’s humanitarian funding requirements remain unmet.
FUNDING OVERVIEW AND PARTNERSHIPS
In 2025, UNICEF is appealing for US$ 1 billion to deliver a comprehensive package of life-saving child protection, education, health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and humanitarian cash interventions to reach 8.7 million children. These efforts aim to save children’s lives, alleviate their suffering, and build their resilience and dignity amid Sudan’s ongoing and escalating humanitarian crisis. As of 30 April 2025, UNICEF has US$ 271 million available for its crisis response. This includes US$ 203 million carried over from 2024, with only US$ 16.7 million in humanitarian funding newly received in 2025. This also includes US$ 51.5 million in other resources being leveraged to sustain community resilience and essential service delivery systems across Sudan.
UNICEF expresses its gratitude to its donors for their generous, continuous, and unwavering support towards UNICEF's humanitarian response. These contributions enable UNICEF to provide life-saving assistance to vulnerable children and their families, maintain essential services and systems, build resilience, and support recovery efforts in areas of return and within host communities. This includes contributions from the European Union, the governments of Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Italy, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom, as well as multilateral partners such as the World Bank, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund, the Global Partnership for Education, Education Cannot Wait, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), Education Above All, and UNICEF National Committees.
With the war now in its third year, sustained support for children and their families in Sudan is now more critical than ever. While important funding has already been secured, 73 per cent of UNICEF’s humanitarian funding requirements remain unmet, posing a significant challenge for millions of children who need essential services to ensure their survival and dignity. With collective, strengthened commitment, the outlook for millions of vulnerable children can change.
Accelerated investments are required to sustain and expand life-saving interventions in nutrition, child protection, health, WASH, education and resilience, while also reinforcing Sudan’s fragile social service systems and infrastructure. Flexible funding remains essential to enable UNICEF to respond swiftly and effectively to emerging crises and deliver uninterrupted support where it is needed the most.
To be able to reach vulnerable children across the country, coordinated advocacy is crucial for calling for sustained, unimpeded humanitarian access, including across conflict lines and across borders; secured humanitarian routes; respect for international humanitarian and human rights law, increased funding, and, most importantly, a cessation of hostilities.
Through continued efforts and collaboration, 2025 can mark a turning point in securing a better future for Sudan’s children.