Sudan war ‘a living nightmare for children’: UNICEF Representative

“Sudan is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. It's a living nightmare for children,” Mandeep O’Brien said this week in an interview with UN News. 

Nearly 10 months have passed since clashes erupted between the Sudanese Army and a rival group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), leaving14 million children in desperate need of lifesaving assistance.

Ms. O’Brien said the fighting has sparked the world’s largest child displacement crisis. More than 3.5 million boys and girls have fled their homes for safer locations, with some uprooted several times.

The bad news continues as more than 7.4 million young Sudanese do not have access to safe drinking water, putting them at risk of waterborne diseases, and nearly two million are in urgent need of lifesaving vaccines.

Sudan also has one of the highest rates of child malnutrition in the world. More than three million under-fives suffer from acute malnutrition, and 700,000 could die from its severest form unless they receive medical treatment.