New Famine Report Is the Final Warning for Children in Sudan: Save the Children

PORT SUDAN, (December 24, 2024) – The lives of hundreds of thousands of children are hanging in the balance with new data showing famine has spread to additional areas of Sudan after 20 months of conflict and is likely to expand to five more in North Darfur by May 2025, Save the Children said.

Famine was first confirmed in August 2024 in the Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, housing about 500,000 displaced people, and this has now expanded to Abu Shouk and Al Salam camps and to the Western Nuba Mountains, according to the independent IPC Famine Review Committee (FRC).

Between now and next May, famine is projected to persist in these areas and further expand into five more North Darfur localities, including Um Kadadah, Melit, Al Fasher, At Tawisha, and Al Leit.

Describing this as an unprecedented deepening and widening of Sudan’s food crisis, the IPC said at least 638,000 people are now facing IPC 5, the worst of five IPC classifications on food security. Despite ongoing harvests, which would typically offer some respite to families, the IPC projects severe food insecurity between December 2024 and May 2025, when 24.6 million people – about half of the population - will face high levels of acute food insecurity, a significant rise from 21.1 million projected in June.

When famine was confirmed in Zamzam, it was only the third famine determination to be made since the IPC monitoring system was set up 20 years ago, designed to trigger a response to prevent a hunger catastrophe.

A famine declaration is based on technical decisions around three thresholds – that at least 20% of the population is affected, with about one out of three children being acutely malnourished, and two people out of 10,000 dying daily - as well as a political agreement.

MARY LUPUL, SAVE THE CHILDREN’S SUDAN HUMANITARIAN DIRECTOR, SAID:

“This latest report is terrifying and a failure of the global system. When famine is declared, it is already too late for many. Children are famine’s first victims and are already facing avoidable and excruciating deaths due to malnutrition and disease. Without immediate action now, we will see more young lives lost.

“It is heartbreaking to know that this catastrophe could have been prevented. In the communities where we work, we see the devastating effects of food insecurity and malnutrition daily. Many people facing the worst levels of food insecurity live in conflict-ridden areas of Sudan. These numbers only tell part of the story, as access and data collection in these areas remain difficult.

“We are calling on all parties to allow immediate, unhindered access through all border crossing and across the country to provide large-scale humanitarian assistance and commercial deliveries. There needs to be safe airspace for commercial and humanitarian convoys to reach the most critical IDP and refugee settlements and urban centres.

“The expansion of famine to additional areas highlights the international community’s failure to respond with the urgency and scale this crisis demands. Timely action can save lives. The international community cannot continue to turn its back on Sudan and wait for famine to expand further, taking more children’s lives.”

Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 and is currently supporting children and their families across Sudan, providing health, nutrition, education, child protection and food security and livelihoods support.