In Sudan, sick and starving children ‘wasting away’ – UN humanitarians

Relentless violence, famine and disease are picking off Sudan’s children while attacks on healthcare and a lack of aid access hamper efforts to help them, UN humanitarian agencies warned on Tuesday.

Ricardo Pires, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that in parts of North Darfur more than half of all children are acutely malnourished.

The warning follows the release of new data from the IPC, a UN-backed global food security monitoring system, from three localities in North Darfur - Um Baru and Kernoi and At Tine – indicating “catastrophic” malnutrition rates.

“Extreme hunger and malnutrition come for children first, the youngest, the smallest, the most vulnerable,” Mr. Pires said. “In Sudan, it's spreading... These are children between six months and five years old, and they are running out of time,” he stressed.

The UNICEF spokesperson highlighted the fact that famine thresholds for malnutrition have been surpassed in locations not previously considered at risk, such as Um Baru and Kernoi. Conflict, mass displacement, the collapse of services and blocked access which have sparked starvation alerts for these localities exist “across vast swathes of Sudan”, he said.

“If famine is looming there, it can take hold anywhere,” he insisted.

Mr. Pires also warned of the prevalence of disease as a further threat to children’s survival.

“These children are not just hungry,” he said. “Nearly half of all children in At Tine had been sick in the previous two weeks. Fever, diarrhoea, respiratory infections, low vaccination coverage, unsafe water and a collapsing health system are turning treatable illnesses into death sentences for already malnourished children.”

He called upon the world to “stop looking away” from Sudan's children, warning that more than half of the youngsters in North Darfur’s Um Baru are “wasting away while we watch”.

“That is not a statistic. Those are children with names and a future that are being stolen,” the UNICEF spokesperson insisted.

Nearly three years since war erupted between the once-allied Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), 13.6 million people have fled their homes, including 9.1 million displaced within the country.

Dr Shible Sahbani, the UN World Health Organization (WHO)’s representative in Sudan, told reporters that while the displaced require “urgent” care, the health system has been “ravaged by attacks, loss and damage of equipment and supplies, a shortage of health workforce and operational funds”.

Since the start of the war in April 2023, WHO has verified 205 attacks on health care that have led to 1,924 deaths and 529 injuries, Dr Sahbani said.

“Such attacks deprive communities of care for years to come, instilling terror in patients and health workers and creating unsurmountable barriers to life-saving treatment,” he added. Meanwhile, the country faces multiple disease outbreaks, including cholera, malaria, dengue and measles.

While WHO and partners are supporting the response to these outbreaks, Dr Sahbani insisted on the need for greater access and protection of health workers and facilities, in line with international humanitarian law.

“Patients and healthcare workers should not risk death while seeking and providing care,” he said. “Above all, we call for peace... Peace is long due for Sudan.”

His call echoed that of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, who on Monday once again sounded the alarm over the deadly conflict in Sudan, briefing the Human Rights Council in Geneva on the “preventable human rights catastrophe” that took place in North Darfur’s capital El Fasher in October last year.

Thousands of people were killed there in a matter of days after an 18-month-long siege of the city, multiple testimonies gathered by Mr. Türk’s Office have indicated. The new danger is a possible repeat of these abuses in the Kordofan region, he said.

Responding to journalists’ questions in Geneva about the involvement of other countries in the conflict, the High Commissioner’s spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani underscored his concerns – “whether they're directly involved, whether there are mercenaries on the ground from different countries, whether they're providing arms, intelligence, funding or other support, whether they're involved in the political economy of the conflict in Sudan”.

She added: “The High Commissioner has repeatedly called on all States with influence to exercise that influence to bring the conflict in Sudan to an end.”

-Ends-

STORY Sudan humanitarian update UNICEF, WHO, OHCHR

TRT: 4:07”

SOURCE: UNTV CH and UNICEF

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 10 FEBRUARY 2026 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND AND 26 JANUARY 2026, TAWILA, NORTH DARFUR, SUDAN – credit UNICEF

1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.

2. Medium shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference.

3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Ricardo Pires, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “In parts of North Darfur, as we speak, more than half of all children are acutely malnourished. Not projected, not modelled, confirmed. New IPC data released last Friday from three localities in North Darfur, Um Baru, Kernoi and At Tine shows catastrophic malnutrition rates.”

4. Medium over-the-shoulder shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens.

5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Ricardo Pires, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “Famine thresholds for malnutrition have been surpassed in Um Baru and Kernoi, locations that weren't previously considered at risk. Extreme hunger and malnutrition come for children first, the youngest, the smallest, the most vulnerable. And in Sudan, it's spreading. These are children between six months and five years old, and they are running out of time.”

6. Medium-wide reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens, journalists in the Press room.

7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Ricardo Pires, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “These children are not just hungry. Nearly half of all children in At Tine had been sick in the previous two weeks. Fever, diarrhea, respiratory infections, low vaccination coverage, unsafe water and a collapsing health system are turning treatable illnesses into death sentences for already malnourished children.”

8. Medium-wide reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens.

9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Ricardo Pires, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “The world must stop looking away from Sudan's children. More than half the children in Um Baru are wasting away while we watch.”

10. Wide reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens, journalists in the Press room.

11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Shible Sahbani, Representative in Sudan, World Health Organization (WHO): “The newly displaced populations, including returnees, require urgent health interventions, which the weakened health system is unable to cope with. The health system has been ravaged by attacks, loss and damage of equipment and supplies, a shortage of health workforce and operational funds.”

12. Medium-wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens, journalists in the Press room.

13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Shible Sahbani, Representative in Sudan, World Health Organization (WHO): “We need more and more countries to step up and help. These are the most vulnerable you can imagine coming out of a conflict like this and in a medical condition that doesn't find any support or any help inside Gaza. We would wish many more countries come forward and help on that front.”

14. Medium-wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference, speaker on screens, journalists in the Press room.

15. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Shible Sahbani, Representative in Sudan, World Health Organization (WHO): “Such attacks deprive communities of care for years to come instilling terror in patients and health workers and creating unsurmountable barriers to life-saving treatment. The country, meanwhile, is facing multiple disease outbreaks, including cholera, malaria, dengue, measles in addition of course to malnutrition and life- threatening conditions.”

16. Medium shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference.

17. SOUNDBITE (English) – Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson, UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR): “On the conflict in Sudan, as you know, we've been very concerned about the involvement of many different countries, whether they're directly involved, whether there are mercenaries on the ground from different countries, whether they're providing arms, intelligence, funding or other support, whether they're involved in the political economy of the conflict in Sudan, we have been very concerned about the participation of regional and international actors, and the High Commissioner has repeatedly called on all States with influence to exercise that influence to bring the conflict in Sudan to an end.”

18. Various shots of journalists in the Press room.

19. UNICEF B-Roll: 26 JANUARY 2026, Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan: Various shots – credit UNICEF:

-Wide, medium and close shots: Tawila camp with temporary shelters made with sticks and straw for displaced families.

-Medium shots: girl cooking a meal using a long mingling stick; women cooking meals; a mother cooking a meal next to her children in the camp.

-Wide shot: children and women collecting water in the camp.

-Close, medium and wide shots: mother feeds her child suffering from severe cute malnutrition with ready-to-use-therapeutic food (RUTF) at a UNICEF-supported health facility in the camp.

-Wide and close shots: a child is weighed at a UNICEF-supported health facility in the camp.

-Close shot: child looking into the camera while on the mother’s lap.