700,000 Children Battling with Serious Malnutrition in Sudan

By Xinhua 

February 11, 2024

Latest figures show that 38 per cent of children under five are affected by stunting – children too short for their age due to lack of nutrients, suffering irreversible damage to brain capacity.

UN humanitarians on Friday highlighted a harrowing statistic: 700,000 children in Sudan are now facing the most severe form of malnutrition due to the ongoing conflict.

James Elder, a spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), described the situation in Sudan as “the world’s largest displacement of children,” with 4 million children displaced. “That’s 13,000 children every single day for 300 days,” Elder said.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently called for 2.7 billion U.S. dollars to address the urgent needs within Sudan, but the appeal remains drastically underfunded at just four percent.

This comes amid a brutal conflict that began last April, with rival factions showing no signs of compliance with peace efforts. Elder’s recent visit to Sudan’s Darfur revealed a distressing reality: out of over 700,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, UNICEF may only be able to treat less than half without increased support and access.