A woman and children sit with other people displaced by conflict at a mosque in Sudan's northern border town of Wadi Halfa near Egypt on September 12, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)
UNITED NATIONS - UN humanitarians on Friday highlighted a harrowing statistic: 700,000 children in Sudan are now facing the most severe form of malnutrition due to the ongoing conflict.
James Elder, a spokesperson for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), described the situation in Sudan as "the world's largest displacement of children," with 4 million children displaced.
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"That's 13,000 children every single day for 300 days," Elder said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently called for $2.7 billion to address the urgent needs within Sudan, but the appeal remains drastically underfunded at just four percent. This comes amid a brutal conflict that began last April, with rival factions showing no signs of compliance with peace efforts.
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Elder's recent visit to Sudan's Darfur revealed a distressing reality: Out of over 700,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, UNICEF may only be able to treat less than half without increased support and access.