Child malnutrition soars in Sudan, grave violations up 1,000 percent – UNICEF

May 10, 2025 (PORT SUDAN) – Grave violations against children in Sudan have surged by 1,000 percent in two years, the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Saturday, as it also revealed that more than 105,000 children were treated for life-threatening severe acute malnutrition in the first three months of 2025.

U.N. agencies warn that 3.2 million Sudanese children under five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year, with nearly 772,000 of them facing the most dangerous, severe form.

“Data from the first three months of 2025 showed that more than 105,000 children received treatment for severe acute malnutrition,” Eva Hinds, UNICEF Sudan’s head of advocacy and communication, told Sudan Tribune.

She said malnourished children are 11 times more likely to contract diseases than healthy children, as severe malnutrition – resulting from a lack of nutritious food – leads to recurrent illnesses like diarrhoea, measles and malaria, weakening their immune systems.

UNICEF projected that the number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition could rise to 462,000 between May and October this year.

The period from late June to November, known as the “lean season,” is typically when food insecurity worsens in Sudan.

About 30.4 million people in Sudan, or 64 per cent of the population, will need humanitarian aid in 2025, according to the U.N., which aims to support 20.6 million of them.

Hinds added that the 1,000 percent increase in grave violations against children included killings, maiming, abduction, recruitment by armed groups, rape, attacks on schools and hospitals, and the denial of humanitarian access.

The ongoing conflict has led to such violations in more than half of Sudan’s 18 states, she added.

The highest numbers were reported in the Darfur states, Khartoum, Al Jazirah, and South Kordofan. Previously, they were largely confined to Darfur, Blue Nile, and South Kordofan, Hinds said.

Children caught in the conflict face displacement, malnutrition, school closures, recruitment, exploitation, disease outbreaks and abuse, UNICEF said.

In a report on March 4, UNICEF documented 221 cases of rape against children since the start of 2024, including four infants who were one year old.