{"id":20113279,"date":"2025-02-04T10:51:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T09:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/?p=20113279"},"modified":"2025-02-04T10:51:28","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T09:51:28","slug":"msf-reports-staggering-malnutrition-data-from-across-sudan-unicef-warns-of-the-implications-for-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/en\/all-news\/article\/msf-reports-staggering-malnutrition-data-from-across-sudan-unicef-warns-of-the-implications-for-the-future","title":{"rendered":"MSF reports \u2018staggering malnutrition data\u2019 from across Sudan, UNICEF warns of the implications for the future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (MSF) yesterday renewed its call for immediate action to prevent more starvation in Sudan, and urged the international community \u201cto pursue all options\u201d to reach the more than 24 million people suffering from hunger in the country . The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) last week warned that the soaring malnutrition rates will have grave implications for the country\u2019s future. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, admissions for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in Sudan rose by 43.8 per cent compared to 2023, with 431,015 children treated\u2014the highest annual total since the programme’s inception, UNICEF states in its Sudan Humanitarian Annual Situation Report<\/a> over 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MSF in a press release yesterday warned that \u201cthe already catastrophic situation<\/a> is expected to worsen this year\u201d, calling on international donors, the UN, Sudan\u2019s warring parties and their allies to \u201cact now to prevent even more avoidable deaths from malnutrition in Sudan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The international medical organisation cites the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report that stated that about 24.6 million people, half of Sudan\u2019s population, face high levels of acute food insecurity \u2013 among whom 8.5 million people face an emergency or famine-like situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite this new wake-up call, robust humanitarian and diplomatic mobilisation to act on aid deliveries has fallen far short of the needs. To provide only those in the most extreme situation with monthly food rations, 2,500 aid trucks per month would be required, whereas only about 1,150 crossed into Darfur between August and December,\u201d says Stephane Doyon, MSF operations manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MSF released data showing horrific rates of malnutrition<\/a> in multiple locations, both at the height of Sudan\u2019s lean season last year and as recently as December 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huge challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both MSF and UNICEF speak of \u2018a daunting challenge\u2019 to reach the needy. \u201cThe ongoing conflict makes transporting supplies around the country extremely time consuming as permit approvals, checkpoints and cargo inspections add days or even weeks to journeys, UNICEF stated in an article<\/a> last week. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MSF also points to \u201cthe continued obstruction of aid by both of Sudan\u2019s warring parties and by the neglectful inertia of the UN and aid system in Darfur. With the seasonal hunger gap coming in May, decisive action must be taken now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cParts of Sudan are difficult to work in. But it is certainly possible, and this is what humanitarian organisations and the UN are supposed to do,\u201d said Marcella Kraay, MSF emergency coordinator, speaking from Nyala, South Darfur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn places that are easier to access, as well as in the hardest to reach areas like North Darfur, options like air routes remain unexplored. The failure to act is a choice, and it\u2019s killing people,\u201d she\u00a0added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The medical INGO also cautions that the moving of supplies \u201cwill become an even more difficult task during the upcoming rainy and lean season, when flooded dirt roads become impossible to navigate. A wide-scale humanitarian response must be launched now, including by drastically increasing available funding and logistical capacities, securing food pipelines and prepositioning food stocks in Chad and neighbouring countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, MSF urges \u201cUN agencies, international organisations, donor countries, and governments with leverage to pursue all options, including air routes, to complement and even replace road access where necessary\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018<\/strong>Generational crisis<\/strong>\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNICEF also warns that, as the devastating war approaches its second year, \u201cSudan risks a lost generation, with grave implications for the country\u2019s future\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As \u201ceven when children recover, malnutrition can have lifelong effects on a child\u2019s development. Undernourished children may be affected by stunting, wasting or both. Those affected by stunting are too short for their age, and their brains may never develop to their full cognitive capacity, hindering their ability to learn as a child, earn as an adult, and participate meaningfully in their communities,\u201d the agency cautions.<\/p>\n