Sudan malnutrition crisis: Millions face emergency levels of food insecurity

Exponential increase in aid is essential to address extreme hunger

“Despite this new wake-up call, robust humanitarian and diplomatic mobilization to act on aid deliveries has fallen far short of the needs,” said Stephane Doyon, MSF operations manager. “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 in the last six months.” 

MSF has released data showing horrific rates of malnutrition in multiple locations, both at the height of Sudan’s lean season last year and as recently as December 2024. The conflict-driven malnutrition crisis has been exacerbated by the continued obstruction of aid by both of Sudan’s 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.

The failure to act is a choice, and it’s killing people

“Parts of Sudan are difficult to work in, but it is certainly possible, and this is what humanitarian organizations and the UN are supposed to do,” said Marcella Kraay, MSF emergency coordinator, speaking from Nyala, South Darfur state. 

“In 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’s killing people,” Kraay continued. 

The malnutrition crisis has been acknowledged for some time, with the UN in October warning that “never in history have so many people faced starvation and famine as in Sudan today.”

The upcoming rainy season creates a race against time

Moving supplies will 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 neighboring countries. 

MSF is calling for UN agencies, international organizations, donor countries, and governments with leverage to pursue all options, including air routes, to complement and even replace road access where necessary. 

Bureaucratic requirements from the warring parties have long been an obstacle to international organizations’ ability to reach and provide services to people. Rather than reacting to critical needs in a timely manner, permissions to respond are either delayed or denied altogether by the warring parties. This is impeding MSF’s work in South Darfur, with aid trucks stuck in Chad waiting for permissions to move from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their offices. A food distribution in South Darfur was also recently postponed as MSF was refused the necessary travel permits.

Warring parties must grant unhindered access for humanitarian organizations. Access must be defined by lifesaving aid reaching people who need it, not by announcements celebrating piecemeal measures that fall far short. MSF calls on the warring parties, their allies, and influential states to use their leverage to ease the obstacles that are causing deaths and suffering.

MSF data shows depth of the malnutrition crisis

North Darfur

An ongoing RSF siege on the state capital El Fasher is starving people and depriving them of lifesaving assistance, while malnutrition also affects people in surrounding areas. MSF teams screened over 9,500 children under 5 years old while conducting a therapeutic food distribution in Tawila locality in December 2024. They found a staggering global acute malnutrition estimate of 35.5 percent, with 7 percent of the screened children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. 

In September 2024, 34 percent of the 29,300 children screened by MSF during a vaccination campaign in Zamzam camp were found to be suffering from acute malnutrition. Since the beginning of December, repeated shelling has made it impossible for our team to carry out further assessments in the camp and has most likely exacerbated the levels of malnutrition.

Khartoum

MSF teams also see concerning rates of malnutrition outside of Darfur, in areas where displaced people have sought shelter, or in areas closer to the conflict. In Omdurman, Khartoum state, a conflict zone under control of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), MSF carried out a nutritional screening while assisting with a vaccination campaign for children in October 2024, finding 7.1 percent of children screened were severely acutely malnourished.

South Darfur 

Even those far from the front lines still face the risk of malnutrition. In October 2024, 23 percent of children under five screened at MSF-supported facilities in Nyala, South Darfur’s capital, and nearby locations were suffering from severe acute malnutrition. In two MSF-supported facilities, 26 percent of the pregnant and breastfeeding women seeking care were acutely malnourished. With World Food Programme (WFP) food distributions lacking, MSF launched a targeted food distribution in South Darfur in December 2024, providing two months’ food to about 30,000 people.

Not the first war for many, but the most devastating 

Zahra Abdullah received food for her and her son. They live together in the Al Salam displacement camp outside of Nyala city. 

“This is not the first war I have experienced, but it is definitely the most devastating to my life,” said Abdullah. “The living conditions here are harsh, and everything is a daily struggle. The aid we receive has somewhat improved our situation. At least now, we finally have a meal in the morning.”

“But even so, the suffering never ends. It starts with finding clean water to drink, continues with trying to provide enough food, and ends with finding a place to sleep. Sometimes I sit alone and think: is this the life I will live forever?” she said.

For millions of people like Abdullah, the time is now to act to prevent the situation from becoming ever more dire. MSF will continue to do what it can, but the scale is well beyond the organization’s capacity to respond. We need to see a massive response now to prevent more death and starvation.