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Hunger still blights the lives of Sudan’s children

  • Nearly 3 million of Sudan’s children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, according to the United Nations
  • Residents of Kalma camp for the displaced say conditions have worsened as economic hardships keep rising and sporadic bouts of deadly violence continue

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Women and children wait at a nutrition centre at the Kalma camp for the displaced just outside Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur state, in November 2022. Photo: AFP

In Sudan’s sprawling Kalma camp for the displaced, Ansaf Omar lives with the gut-wrenching guilt of losing her toddler to a food crisis that has hit millions of people nationwide.

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“I am severely malnourished so I couldn’t breastfeed him,” said Omar, 34, a month after her one-and-half-year-old child died in Kalma camp just outside Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur state.

“I took him everywhere – hospitals, treatment centres, but he died in the end,” she said.

Children at the Kalma camp for the displaced just outside Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur state, in November 2022.
Children at the Kalma camp for the displaced just outside Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur state, in November 2022.

Desperate mothers like Omar battle daily around Kalma to feed their frail and hungry children, many of whom are severely malnourished.

Sudan is one of the world’s poorest countries, with one-third of the population – at least 15 million people – facing a growing hunger crisis, according to United Nations figures.

Nearly 3 million of Sudan’s children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, the UN says.

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“Over 100,000 children in Sudan are at risk of dying of malnutrition if left untreated,” said Leni Kinzli, head of communications in the country for the World Food Programme (WFP).

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