Sudan: Children in Sudan ‘Reduced to Skin and Bones’

GENEVA/PORT SUDAN — This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Sudan Representative Sheldon Yett – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva

“Over the past week, I travelled from Port Sudan to Aj Jazeera and Khartoum States, witnessing the impact that this crisis – the world’s largest humanitarian crisis – is having on children and families.

“During the mission, I saw homes, houses, and buildings destroyed. I saw our warehouse in Khartoum looted and reduced to rubble. I saw our humanitarian supplies in that warehouse had been destroyed. I saw communities uprooted and children who had been forced to flee living in overcrowded neighbourhoods.

I met mothers who walked for very long distances to find safety, and health workers who cared for the sick and malnourished despite the risks. I also saw our teams and partners work tirelessly, often in perilous and uncertain conditions, continuing to deliver lifesaving aid.

“I visited Jebel Aulia, one of the two localities in Khartoum State identified as being at extreme risk of famine.

“Jebel Aulia and Khartoum localities carry 37 per cent of the State’s malnutrition burden. These localities are also the most impacted by the ongoing violence and access constraints.  I witnessed firsthand how children have limited, but growing, access to safe water, to food, to healthcare and to learning. Malnutrition is rife, and many of the children are reduced to just skin and bones. Children and families in the neighbourhood are often sheltered in small, damaged or unfinished buildings. The roads are narrow, muddy and often impassable, and getting more impassable by the day as the rains continue

“Cholera spread rapidly in this neighbourhood. The few functioning health centres and nutrition treatment centres in the area are highly congested and crammed with people.

“With our partners, we are doing everything we can. Security remains precarious but is improving.  After months of effort, we finally have access to the community, and we continue to support health and nutrition services, water and sanitation, and reposition critical supplies where they are most needed. We are also creating safe spaces for children to learn, to play, and to heal. But the scale of need is just staggering, and, along with our partners, we are being stretched to the limit.

“Sadly, this is true across the country, with the situation deteriorating rapidly. Children are dying from hunger, disease, and direct violence. They are being cut off from the very services that could save their lives.

“This is not hypothetical. It is a looming catastrophe. We are on the verge of irreversible damage to an entire generation of children not because we lack the knowledge or the tools to save them, but because we are collectively failing to act with the urgency, and at the scale this crisis demands. We need access to these children.

“With recent funding cuts, many of our partners in Khartoum State and elsewhere in Sudan have been forced to scale back, and we are stepping up, but we cannot do it alone.

“We need resources and sustained access to be able to rapidly scale up in areas we can now reach. The record-high admission rates of children receiving treatment for severe acute malnutrition in places like Jebel Aulia and large parts of Aj Jazeera state are clear signs that the needs are staggering in the newly accessible areas.

“We must rapidly scale up lifesaving services for children, and we need safe and sustained access to do so, wherever children are.

“This is particularly critical in areas on the frontlines and currently cut off from aid – Al Fasher, Dilling and Kadugli. Every day without access to these places puts children’s lives at higher risk.

“As one of the displaced mothers told us: “Since the war started, my daughter has fallen into a state of silence, and I can feel her heart racing with fear.

“Her words are a chilling reminder of the invisible wounds this war is inflicting on children in Sudan.

“During this mission, and a year later in Sudan, I have seen the worst of what war can do and the best of what humanity can offer in response. Children in Sudan are resilient. They have endured war now for over two years. But they cannot survive without help.

We continue to call for sustained diplomatic efforts for peace. And while conflict endures, we all must collectively do everything in our power to support children – we cannot let them pay the ultimate price for it.

“The world must not look away. Not now.”