Malnutrition Ravages Sudanese Children as Aid Organizations Struggle to Cope

The suffering of displaced people in Sudan represents one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, according to reports, as war, hunger, and disease combine to create a tragic reality affecting millions of civilians, particularly women and children, who are bearing the greatest burden.

The story of Iman’s six-member family illustrates the scale of the tragedy. The family lives inside a “metal box” measuring no more than two meters in length, beneath a roof made of worn-out fabric, after losing the father and breadwinner. Their suffering has been compounded by the constant threat of hunger, according to a report by Al Jazeera correspondent Haitham Oweit from the Qoz Al-Salam displacement camp in Kosti, White Nile State, south of Khartoum.

In another case, the mother of a young girl named Nour Al-Sham said that her daughter had been hospitalized several times because of malnutrition. She said the girl had not eaten for two days and needed a blood transfusion that the family could not afford, highlighting the harsh conditions in displacement camps, where even basic healthcare services are lacking.

The mother said her daughter “had begun recovering from an illness, but a lack of food prevented her from completing her recovery, forcing her to return to the hospital once again.” This is a situation repeated among hundreds of thousands of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

Meanwhile, one displaced person emphasized that the Sudanese people are productive and do not want to depend on donations. Instead, they want to return to their communities and resume production, but this requires security and stability, as well as rebuilding what has been destroyed by the war.