Save the Children: Over a Quarter of a Million Children and Pregnant Women May Die in the Coming Months
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Save the Children has warned that nearly 230,000 children and new mothers could die in the coming months due to famine unless urgent funding is provided to save lives and respond to the escalating crisis in Sudan.
The organization called for funding and resources to prepare for a wide-ranging response to meet critical needs in Sudan and neighboring countries, including local and national organizations providing frontline humanitarian assistance. It reiterated the call for an end to conflict and unrestricted humanitarian access to provide families and children with essential life-saving food, health, and other vital services and supplies.
In a statement yesterday, it warned that approximately 222,000 children suffering from severe malnutrition and over 7,000 new mothers could die in the coming months if their nutritional and health needs are not met.
It stated that pregnant women are skipping meals and going to bed hungry to allow their children to eat, severely limiting the nutrients available to their developing fetuses and creating serious concerns for the health of these children at birth.
Without addressing the funding gap, approximately 1.2 million pregnant and lactating women will suffer from malnutrition this year and face severe health complications during and after childbirth.
This grim outlook is attributed to the low funding covering only 5.5% of the total needs in the country at present, with only 23% of the required amount received last year.
Dr. Aarif Noor, Country Director for Save the Children in Sudan, said, "We are witnessing immense hunger, suffering, and death. Yet, the world looks away. The international community must come together to act and prevent further loss of life. History will remember this inaction."
He added, "The cycle of hunger is worsening with no end in sight, only more misery."
The organization revealed that over 2.9 million children in Sudan are suffering from severe malnutrition, in addition to 729,000 children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition, the most dangerous and fatal form of starvation, according to new figures released by the nutrition group in Sudan.
Among these children, more than 109,000 are likely to suffer from medical complications such as dehydration, hypothermia, and low blood sugar, requiring intensive and specialized hospital care to survive.
"The figures released today reveal a stark deterioration in humanitarian organizations ability to reach those in need, with an unprecedented funding shortfall and severe access constraints. In just one month, the number of areas considered hard-to-reach by the group increased by 71%, rising from 47 areas in November 2023 to 135 areas by the end of December due to increased fighting."
The destruction of the food supply chain within the country for essential therapeutic foods necessary for treating children suffering from severe malnutrition has severely hindered the crisis response. In particular, the sole manufacturer of the necessary therapeutic foods for rehabilitating severely malnourished children and women ceased operation after being destroyed last year during the fighting.
Since the escalation of conflict in April 2023, food production has collapsed, imports have halted, and prices of essential food items have risen by 45% in less than a year. Food movement has also been restricted throughout the country, especially to rural and remote areas where most people live, severely hampered by conflict, pushing over 37% of the population to crisis levels of hunger.
Save the Children is currently supporting children and their families across Sudan by providing health, nutrition, education, child protection, food security, and livelihood support, as well as supporting Sudanese refugees in Egypt and South Sudan.
