More than half of children in Um Baru in Sudan’s North Darfur region are suffering from acute malnutrition, including one in six with life-threatening severe acute malnutrition that can prove fatal within weeks without urgent treatment, UNICEF said Monday. The assessment found that 53% of children were acutely malnourished, including 18% with severe acute malnutrition and 35% with moderate acute malnutrition. "When severe acute malnutrition reaches this level, time becomes the most critical factor,” Russell said. UNICEF said North Darfur remains at the epicenter of Sudan’s malnutrition crisis, with nearly 85,000 severely malnourished children admitted for treatment in the state by November 2025. Of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF controls all five states of the Darfur region except for some northern parts of North Darfur, while the army holds most areas of the remaining 13 states, including the capital Khartoum.

Source: The North Africa Journal December 30, 2025 17:41 UTC