Sudan’s children are being pushed to the edge of irreversible harm as critical aid services are slashed due to severe funding cuts, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.
The crisis is unfolding while malnutrition continues to affect large parts of the country, Reuters reported.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other UN agencies are grappling with one of the worst funding shortages in decades.
The situation has been made worse by recent decisions from the United States and other donor countries to reduce foreign aid budgets.
“Children have limited access to safe water, food, healthcare. Malnutrition is rife, and many good children are reduced to just skin, bones,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF’s Representative in Sudan, speaking via video link from Port Sudan.
Since conflict erupted between the Sudanese army and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF), millions have been displaced and the country has fragmented into different zones of control. The RSF remains deeply entrenched in western Sudan.
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In July, the World Food Programme warned that areas south of the capital, Khartoum, are at risk of famine.
UNICEF said the growing needs are overwhelming the agency’s ability to respond, especially as recent funding cuts have forced many partner organizations in Khartoum and other regions to scale back operations.
“We are being stretched to the limit across Sudan, with children dying of hunger,” Yett said.
“We [are] on the verge of irreversible damage being done to an entire generation of children in Sudan.”
As of now, only 23% of the $4.16 billion global humanitarian response plan for Sudan has been funded, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Access to many areas in need remains difficult, with the rainy season making some roads impassable and ongoing sieges cutting off others, UNICEF noted.
“It has been one year since famine was confirmed in ZamZam camp and no food has reached this area.
Al-Fashir remains under siege. We need that access now,” said Jens Laerke of OCHA.
Reuters also noted that this story was corrected to reflect that the global humanitarian response plan for Sudan is $4.16 billion, not $4.6 billion, following a revision by the United Nations in paragraph 9.
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Image Credit: Unicef
