UNICEF: Sudanese Children at the Heart of the World’s Largest Humanitarian Catastrophe
Omdurman - Mashaweer
Ricardo Pires, spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), stated today (Tuesday) that Sudan’s children are currently at the heart of the “largest humanitarian catastrophe in the world,” warning that the situation is worsening day by day.
During the UN agencies’ bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, the UN official said that 3.7 million people across Sudan currently require humanitarian aid, half of whom are children.
He added that 825,000 children are expected to suffer from severe wasting this year, while more than 70% of health facilities have become non-functional.
Pires continued, “The world must stop turning a blind eye to the children of Sudan.”
He pointed to data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) released last Friday regarding three regions in North Darfur State, which showed “catastrophic rates of malnutrition.”
He warned that extreme hunger and malnutrition hit children first, clarifying that these are children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years.
He stated that more than half of the children in areas of North Darfur suffer from acute malnutrition, adding, “This was not just a projection or a model; it is a confirmed reality.”
Pires warned that heat, diarrhea, respiratory infections, limited vaccination coverage, unsafe drinking water, and collapsed health systems are turning treatable diseases into “death sentences” for children who are already suffering from malnutrition.
