Children are being reduced to skin and bones amid a devastating conflict
The number of children suffering from severe malnutrition is rising at an alarming rate. Between January and May 2025, cases of severe acute malnutrition – the deadliest form of malnutrition – rose by 46 per cent in parts of Sudan. In North Darfur alone, more than 40,000 children were admitted for treatment in the first five months of this year.
Famine has already been declared in parts of Sudan, including North Darfur. With the lean season now underway – June to September when food stocks are at their lowest – the crisis could quickly spiral into widespread famine without immediate intervention.
Since conflict escalated in mid-April 2023, the impact on Sudan's children has been immense: extreme violence, mass displacement, famine and disease outbreaks. Families have been forced to flee their homes, health systems have collapsed, and schools have shut down.
In 2025, grave violations against children have soared. They are being killed, maimed, and many children, especially girls, face terrifying risks to their safety, including sexual violence. Their futures are being stolen, their innocence shattered, and their lives k lost. children are paying the heaviest price with their future, their lives.
The numbers tell a devastating story:
- 15.2 million children urgently need humanitarian support
- 24.6 million people are facing severe hunger across Sudan, with areas already experiencing famine
- 5 million children have been displaced, making Sudan the largest child displacement crisis in the world
- 90 per cent of schools are closed, leaving a generation without access to education
- 12.1 million people are at risk of sexual violence
Children caught in this nightmare need us more than ever. Help UNICEF deliver critical lifesaving services and supplies by donating today.
Sudan Crisis
Sudan is enduring one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Donate today to support children in desperate need. .
Waleed is fighting for survival as he battles malnutrition amid conflict
Hawa, a mother of three, fled with her children after shelling hit the hospital inside Zamzam Camp, killing mothers, children, and health workers. Her youngest, Waleed, had been receiving treatment there for a life-threatening form of malnutrition. Now, that care is gone, and his condition is worsening.
“We have nothing. Nothing to eat or money to buy food for the children. I don’t have enough breastmilk to feed my baby, and he’s getting worse every day,” says Hawa.
With Waleed strapped to her back and her other children by her side, Hawa walked for three days to another camp for displaced people, joining thousands escaping the escalating violence. But conditions there are also dire, food, water, shelter, and healthcare are all in short supply.
“In the past, we had three to four meals per day. For the past two years, giving them one meal a day is a miracle,” Hawa says.
This is the daily reality for millions of children after two years of war. As more families like Hawa’s arrive, UNICEF and partners are on the ground, working urgently to meet their most critical needs.
How will my donation help children in crisis?
Even in the face of an escalating crisis, UNICEF continues to deliver lifesaving support and services in conflict hotspots despite limited access and significant security risks. But we need your help to deliver for every child.
- $100 could help provide more than 4,348 iron supplements, to help prevent anemia in pregnant women.
- $135 could provide 252 sachets of lifesaving therapeutic food that could help treat two children with severe malnutrition.
- $500 could provide 83,334 water purification tablets, each able to create up to 5 litres of clean drinking water, to help prevent deadly waterborne diseases.
- 80¢on average, 80 cents to every dollar spent for the past three years went directly to helping children in need, including long-term programs, emergency response and community education.
- 20¢on average, 14 cents to every dollar spent for the past three years went to essential fundraising costs that helped us generate more impact for children, 6 cents went to admin costs, such as keeping your personal data safe.
How do we use each dollar donated?
If you choose to donate monthly, or in the unlikely event that UNICEF receives more funds than needed for this emergency response, your gift will help support UNICEF's work for children in need around the world.
Sudan Crisis
Sudan is enduring one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Donate today to support children in desperate need. .