Sudan’s malnutrition crisis is worsening as war, displacement and drought leave families struggling to feed their children, with 825,000 under-fives expected to suffer severe acute malnutrition in 2026.
The estimate from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification represents a 7 per cent increase on the previous year, as fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces continues into its fourth year.
At Port Sudan Teaching Hospital, five-year-old Adam was treated after becoming so weak that he could no longer move. His mother, Layla Ali, travelled for two and a half hours from the village of al-Lalouba before seeking help.
Adam had stopped eating two weeks earlier, but the distance to hospital and fears over the cost of treatment delayed his admission. “We spent five days in hospital while my son received treatment. He suffers from recurring bouts of malnutrition, but this time we brought him to hospital because I was afraid he might die,” Ali said.
She said Adam was usually fed porridge and milk. Medical staff had since helped her understand which foods were suitable for his age and the nutrients he needed.
UNICEF and its partners treated 174,700 children with severe acute malnutrition across Sudan during the first six months of this year. Port Sudan Teaching Hospital recorded 433 cases between January and August.
Maryam Gadalsid, a nutrition counsellor at the hospital, said admissions were continuing to rise. The facility’s 17-bed malnutrition unit has been forced to accommodate as many as three children to a bed, increasing the risk of disease spreading among patients.
Children are assessed before being given therapeutic milk and other nutritional supplies free of charge, with support from the World Health Organisation and UNICEF. But intravenous fluids and medicines remain too expensive for many families affected by the war’s economic crisis, Gadalsid said.
She also warned that poor nutrition among pregnant women, caused by displacement and financial hardship, was putting babies at risk of poor growth and malnutrition. Rising numbers of flies and mosquitoes were adding to concerns over food contamination, malaria and other illnesses among already vulnerable children.
Displaced children face worsening malnutrition
The crisis is particularly severe in Darfur, a region that had endured two decades of conflict before the nationwide war began in April 2023. Fighting, hunger and disease have created increasingly difficult conditions for civilians, especially women and children.
UNICEF recorded at least 40,000 cases of malnutrition in North Darfur between January and May 2025, when the RSF imposed a siege on the state capital, el-Fasher. The city was later captured by the paramilitary group in October, which has been accused of killing thousands of civilians.
In Blue Nile State, cases among displaced children at the al-Karama 3 camp rose from 1,800 in September to 2,116 in November, according to Sabri Adam, deputy head of the committee overseeing the camp.
More than a quarter of the camp’s children are affected, including 1,760 under-fives. The camp is home to more than 7,600 children under 10 and almost 4,000 displaced families who fled areas where military operations have intensified.
Adam said families had arrived in extremely difficult humanitarian conditions, with limited funding and assistance and insufficient health monitoring. A cash payment from the Red Crescent earlier this month gave eligible households 620,000 Sudanese pounds, worth about 60 US dollars at the parallel market rate, to support people affected by malnutrition and pregnant women.
The food security classification system has warned of a growing risk of famine across parts of Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan. Conflict, mass displacement, drought and inadequate humanitarian funding are driving the deterioration.
The El Niño climate phenomenon has reduced rainfall during Sudan’s rainy season, contributing to drought across roughly half the country. Poor vegetation growth has affected nearly two-thirds of farmland in North Darfur and about half of farmland in South Darfur and Kordofan, threatening harvests and pushing up food prices.
Dr Ahmed Youssef, medical director of the paediatric department at Port Sudan Teaching Hospital, said rising malnutrition reflected the combined effects of war, displacement and limited access to nutrition information, particularly in rural communities.
Many families in smaller villages rely heavily on flour and milk, with meat largely absent from their diets. Youssef said food contamination was also a problem because unreliable electricity and a lack of refrigerators made safe storage difficult.
“Families often bring their children to hospital only when malnutrition has reached an advanced stage, either because of financial hardship and fears about treatment costs or because of limited education,” he said.
