One year of the brutal war in Sudan
As the war in Sudan rages on, children continue to pay the highest price
The children of Sudan have now endured a full year of violence, trauma, displacement, and devastation since the conflict escalated. Millions have been forced to flee their homes, making Sudan the biggest child displacement crisis in the world.
For these children, it has been 12 months of loss, tears, upheaval, uncertainty, struggle, nightmares, shattered dreams, and missing friends and loved ones. The impact is reflected in their eyes, even as they continue to exude resilience during these catastrophic times.
“We even see these terrible things in our dreams at night,” 11-year-old Walaa.
The war is robbing them of their childhood.
“I am beginning to forget what my home looked like,” 6-year-old Fatima. “When I close my eyes, I hope I am back in Khartoum when they open.”
Over 19 million children of school-going age have not attended school for months. These are hopes, dreams and aspirations shattered.
“Since the conflict started, we stopped studying and we are forgetting everything we learned,” 11-year-old Walaa.
Schools were much more than places they frequented to learn. They were also safe spaces for them to socialize, play, dance, sing and create lasting memories and be children. These spaces are no more.
“We lost our schools that carried our memories. And most importantly, we lost our childhood,” 16-year-old Menna.
There is a lot that the war has taken from them.
A war induced famine is looming and the lean season is fast approaching. Many families have little or no food at all, causing untold suffering for the children. Malnutrition is soaring to alarming levels. Close to 4 million children suffer from acute malnutrition, 730,000 of them with the most severe form and without urgent and uninterrupted care and treatment, they might not survive.
Sudan’s food baskets are under attack and humanitarian access cannot reach all the people in need with the scale and regularity required, especially those in hot spots. Almost half of the children suffering from severe acute malnutrition are in areas that are hard to access, where there is ongoing fighting.
“We have children who do not have access to food or water and some people do not have homes for shelter,” 13-year-old Ruweda.
The gruesome experiences, their wishes, their dreams
The cost of the Sudan crisis on children
- Close to 14 million children, or half of the children in the country, are in need of humanitarian assistance.
- The country is now the world's largest child displacement crisis, with more than 4 million children displaced since the start of the conflict.
- Close to 4 million children are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year, including 730,000 who are expected to suffer from severe wasting – the deadliest form.
- Sudan now has one of the worst education crises in the world. Over 90 per cent of the country's 19 million school-age children have no access to a formal education.
- Hunger is reaching catastrophic levels; 17.7 million people - approximately over a third of the population – are acutely food insecure (IPC Phase 3 and above), including about 4.9 million who are experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity.
Voices from the field
How UNICEF is helping
Since the beginning of the war, UNICEF and its partners have been on the ground providing immediate and life-saving humanitarian aid to children and their families, despite the difficult humanitarian and security situation.
In Sudan, UNICEF works in Health, Nutrition, WASH, Child Protection, and multi-purpose cash.
In 2023, despite the onset of the war in April, UNICEF continued to deliver critical lifesaving and life sustaining services for children:
Since the start of this year (2024), with the support of partners, UNICEF has reached:
- 5.7 million children with vaccination against measles and rubella, 173,653 children and their families with primary health services including in hot conflict zones.
- 3,963,449 people with safe drinking water.
- Over 270,000 were screened for Severe Acute Malnutrition and 14,473 received lifesaving treatment.
- Close to 290,000 children with access to learning and over 124,400 children with learning materials.
- 126,245 children and caregivers with mental health and psychosocial Support.
- 51,445 children and their families with cash, information and services to preserve health and resilience.
