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A devastating hunger crisis is sweeping across Sudan, with over 25.6 million people, more than half the nation's population, facing severe food shortages amid an ongoing conflict.
The situation is particularly dire for the country's youngest, as 3.7 million children under five are acutely malnourished.
A drastic shortfall in international funding is crippling humanitarian efforts, forcing aid agencies to scale back or halt life-saving operations.
The humanitarian response is struggling to cope as the nutrition sector has received only 12% of the necessary funding.
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Humanitarian crisis in Sudan
This chronic underfunding is leading to the collapse of essential services, leaving the most vulnerable without support.
The consequences are starkly visible in regions like Darfur, where in some areas, one in three children is suffering from acute malnutrition, a figure that surpasses famine thresholds.
Over 637,000 people are currently experiencing catastrophic hunger, the most severe level on the global scale for measuring food crises.
"Hunger and malnutrition are taking hold of innocent people caught up in vicious conflict. Unaccompanied children are arriving alone in East Darfur, starving, and deeply traumatised," said Abdirahman Ali, CARE Sudan’s Country Director.
If the world continues to look away, more and more lives will slip away.
The impact of these funding cuts is felt directly by those who have already lost everything to the conflict.
Fatima, a 45-year-old mother of five, found refuge in the Alnaeem IDP camp in East Darfur after fleeing the violence in Nyala, South Darfur.
A community kitchen provided a crucial lifeline for her family. "After the long, painful journey, the community kitchen gave us comfort, as now my children were finally able to get a meal," she said.
Humanitarian crisis in Sudan
However, when the kitchen was forced to close due to a lack of funds, the suffering returned.
"Families began skipping meals, eating late, and watching their children grow weak and sick. We started suffering again," Fatima added.
In response, CARE Sudan, in partnership with local Emergency Response Rooms, is operating three community kitchens in the Alnaeem camp, providing hot meals to 18,000 people, the majority of whom are women and children.
Families also receive monthly food baskets containing essentials like sugar, lentils, oil, flour, and salt.
However, these vital services are also at risk of shutting down without consistent and adequate funding.
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The situation is further compounded by the spread of deadly diseases like cholera, which severely malnourished children are too weak to fight off.
Humanitarian organisations are issuing an urgent plea for financial support.
"We are calling on donors and governments to honour pledges and increase much-needed funding to the Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan," stated Ali.
Every day that passes without food, clean water, and much-needed nutritional supplements brings them closer to death. We need immediate and sustained investment in nutrition and food to protect and save these lives today and in the difficult weeks ahead.
CARE has been active in Sudan since 1979, providing a range of humanitarian and development programs.
Their current life-saving operations span across several regions, including East Darfur, Gedaref, Al Gezira, South Kordofan, South Darfur, and Khartoum, focusing on water, sanitation, health, and women's empowerment.