Children in Sudan could face crisis-level hunger by September if a ceasefire is not achieved soonest and humanitarian aid support ramped up.
Development Diaries reports that an estimated 1.5 million children in the country are expected to face new levels of hunger as violent conflict, displacement, and high food prices persist, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) figures.
The number of people facing hunger in Sudan has doubled over the past year, with nearly 42 percent of the country’s 46 million people facing high levels of food insecurity, data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says.
This number is the highest of people going hungry in Sudan since the IPC started listing hunger data for the country in 2012.
In June, one in every three or eight million children in the country were suffering crisis levels of food shortages. This figure is expected to rise to 9.5 million or an average of 17,000 children per day by September.
Malnutrition has remained an increasingly tough challenge to tackle due to the shortage of essential food and medical supplies.
While the call for a ceasefire continues to echo across the region, humanitarian support, especially for children, must be amplified to avert a devastating crisis.
‘People are struggling to stay safe and not be killed in the violence, while also struggling to get enough food to eat’, Save the Children’s Country Director for Sudan, Arif Noor, said in a statement.
‘In conflict areas, if you go to a market, you risk being robbed, shelled, murdered, or caught in the cross-fire. If you get to that market, the chances are, the shelves are empty.
‘It is impossible to over-emphasise the seriousness of the situation in Sudan. This is a desperate, dire crisis for children. We are talking millions of individuals being pushed from their homes, leaving everything behind, eating one measly meal a day’.
While a ceasefire is crucial to restoring the region to normalcy, increased access and effort to urgent humanitarian aid are needed.
Development Diaries, therefore, calls on all the parties to the war to prioritise the protection of civilians, especially children, in accordance with international human rights laws.
Photo source: UNICEF Ethiopia
