14 Million Children in Sudan Need Support

The conflict in Sudan began on April 15, 2023. 

The eruption of fighting came as Sudan is facing its worst-ever humanitarian crisis with conflict, natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and economic degradation resulting in 25.6 million people in need of humanitarian support.

Before the current conflict, Sudan had already been grappling with violence and displacement since the onset of the Darfur crisis in 2003.

Civilian infrastructure - places that should be protected in war, by law, have come under increasing attack in this conflict – homes, hospitals, schools, water systems. 

Since the onset of the conflict, at least 80% of hospitals in Sudan are out of service. Where health facilities are still open, a lack of medical supplies, including blood bags and oxygen, water, fuel and personnel are severely disrupting services.

As the conflict enters its second year, Sudan is now the largest child displacement crisis in the world, with 4.6 million children uprooted from their homes as a result of the ongoing conflict. 

These are children who have been forced to leave behind everything and take on terrifying and perilous journeys to try and find safety. Many will have nothing to go back to as their homes and towns have been reduced to rubble.

Families are arriving physically and emotionally exhausted into overcrowded refugee camps that lack the very essentials –like enough food, shelter, schools, medical facilities, or child protection services. 

Our teams in South Sudan and Egypt are seeing children arriving at border crossing points showing signs of acute stress, anxiety, shock and anger. These neighbouring countries are also already grappling with their own immense challenges.

The number of displaced people in Sudan now eclipses other war-torn countries with massive internal displacements, including Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)  and Ukraine.

Of the 8.7 million people who have been forced to flee their homes, close to 1.8 million have crossed into neighboring countries like South Sudan, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia,  and the Central African Republic.

Without a resolution to the crisis, hundreds of thousands more people will be compelled to flee in search of refuge and basic assistance.

Save the Children is bringing together the best of our experience in humanitarian emergencies and long-term programs and working with partners to ensure that urgently needed support reaches children and families in Sudan and neighboring countries. 

Today, we are one of the largest international NGOs in Sudan, providing a range of services to protect children’s lives and rights. 

In 2023, we supported over 2.4 million people overall in Sudan with integrated health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, education, child protection, food security and livelihoods programming, including 1.4 million people, including 979,000 children in our emergency response.

Your donation to the Children's Emergency Fund supports this life-saving work.