U.N. sounds alarm on Sudan as over 60 die of malnutrition in a week in El Fasher

August 11, 2025 (UNITED NATIONS) – The United Nations warned on Monday that more than 60 people, primarily women and children, have died from malnutrition in a single week in the besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher, as the country grapples with spreading famine, violence, and a major cholera outbreak.

The U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed alarm over the deaths in North Darfur’s capital, a city that has become a focal point of the nation’s spiralling crisis.

“Civilians are enduring a deepening crisis with ongoing attacks, acute hunger and starvation,” U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said, citing a report from OCHA’s Director of Operations, Edem Wosornu.

Famine was first officially detected in the Zamzam displacement camp, also in North Darfur, about a year ago and is believed to have expanded to other areas since, the U.N. said.

The dire hunger situation is compounded by persistent violence. The U.N. noted grave concern over recent attacks in North Kordofan State, where 18 civilians were reportedly killed and dozens wounded in village attacks last week. “We once again underscore that civilians must never be targeted,” Dujarric stated.

Simultaneously, Sudan is battling a severe cholera outbreak, with nearly 100,000 cases recorded since July of last year.

In response, a new vaccination campaign supported by the World Health Organization began in Khartoum State on Sunday, targeting 1.1 million people.

The situation is particularly acute in North Darfur, where local partners have reported over 5,300 cholera cases and 84 related deaths since late June. The majority of these cases are in the Tawila locality, which is sheltering 330,000 people displaced from Zamzam and El Fasher.

U.N. partners are operating cholera treatment centres, but aid delivery is being hampered by “overcrowding, poor sanitation, limited access and the ongoing rainy season,” which are accelerating the spread of the disease, according to the briefing.