As the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Sudan enters its eighteenth month, the United Nations and Member States "will today call for immediate steps to be taken to protect civilians, scale up humanitarian funding and access, and end the fighting once and for all," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced on Wednesday (September 25).

"Relentless hostilities across the country have brought misery to millions of civilians, triggering the world’s fastest-growing displacement crisis. More than 10mn people have fled their homes since April 2023 – half of them children – including more than 2mn people who have sought safety in neighbouring countries," OCHA said.

"Sudan is now also the world’s largest hunger crisis, with over half of the country’s population – nearly 26mn people – facing high levels of acute hunger. Famine has been confirmed in North Darfur’s Zamzam camp, with many other areas at risk. Nearly 5mn children and pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished."

The Famine Review Committee (FRC) of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared famine in the Zamzam camp on August 1, marking the first such determination in over seven years and only the third since the monitoring system was established 20 years ago.

The FRC warned that other regions of Sudan could face similar famine conditions if immediate action is not taken. This announcement confirmed the humanitarian community's worst fears, following a June IPC analysis showing a dramatic decline in food and nutrition security. The analysis revealed that 755,000 people in Sudan were facing catastrophic conditions.

The UN children's agency (UNICEF) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) have been raising alarms about the escalating risks, particularly to children, as urgent aid struggles to reach conflict-ridden areas like Darfur, Khartoum, Kordofan, and Al Jazirah. An estimated 730,000 children are projected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), the most life-threatening form of malnutrition, in 2024.

One of the main drivers of the famine in Zamzam is severely restricted humanitarian access. While UNICEF delivered enough Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) to treat 4,000 severely malnourished children in El Fasher in July, including an allocation for Zamzam camp, ongoing access limitations mean the needs remain enormous and unpredictable.

Both UNICEF and WFP continue to push for guaranteed safe and sustained access to affected areas to allow for an expanded humanitarian response. The agencies are also calling on the international community to increase financial support and diplomatic efforts to secure an immediate ceasefire.

The UN agencies have already mobilised large-scale humanitarian efforts with local and international partners both inside Sudan and in neighbouring countries, where more than 2mn Sudanese have fled to safety.

"Neighbouring countries – despite already grappling with chronic underfunding and large displaced populations before the Sudan conflict – have continued to welcome Sudanese refugees. More support is needed to help host governments provide essential protection and critical life-saving assistance to the new arrivals," said OCHA.

The call for immediate steps to tackle the humanitarian crisis will come at Wednesday’s ministerial meeting at the UN General Assembly in New York, which is being co-hosted by OCHA and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) – alongside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the United States, the African Union, and the European Union.

Together, they will outline the devastating human toll if the international community fails to take urgent and collective action to stem the humanitarian crisis and stop the fighting in Sudan.

The Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Joyce Msuya, said:

“People in Sudan have endured 17 months of hell, and the suffering continues to grow. Thousands of civilians have been killed, entire communities displaced and deprived of food, families scattered, children traumatized, women raped and abused. Decisive international action is urgent. We need humanitarian access to everyone in need, through all necessary routes, ramped-up funding for the response, ironclad commitments to protect civilians, and most of all, real and inclusive steps to end this ruinous war.”

The 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Sudan seeks $2.7bn to help 14.7mn people until the end of this year, according to OCHA. It is currently less than half funded, at 49%. This year’s Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan requires $1.5bn to support 3.3mn refugees, returnees and host communities in seven countries neighbouring Sudan. It is currently just 25% funded.