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The United Nations has warned a cute malnutrition has now reached famine levels in two more areas of North Darfur in Sudan.
A UN-backed global hunger monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, highlights two new locations near the border with Chad, Um Baru and Kernoi.
Both areas have received tens of thousands of people fleeing from another famine-hit area, Al-Fashir, as a result of Sudan's civil war, which has now been going for three years.
Spokesperson for the United Nations Children's Fund, Ricardo Pires, says the deteriorating situation is leaving young children especially vulnerable.
“Famine thresholds for malnutrition have been surpassed in Um Baru and Kernoi, locations that weren't previously considered at risk. Extreme hunger and malnutrition come for children first, the youngest, the smallest, the most vulnerable. And in Sudan, it's spreading. These are children between six months and five years old, and they are running out of time.”
The IPC alert is not a formal famine classification, but it highlights alarming levels of hunger based on the latest data.
In Um Baru, the most recent assessment found acute malnutrition levels among children to be nearly twice the famine threshold, with nearly 53 per cent of children affected.
About 34 per cent, or nearly a third of children were suffering acute malnutrition in Kernoi, and nearby At-Tina also recorded catastrophic malnutrition rates.
Mr Pires says risks are compounded by the widespread collapse of medical services and spread of disease in the region.
“These children are not just hungry. Nearly half of all children in At-Tina had been sick in the previous two weeks. Fever, diarrhoea, respiratory infections, low vaccination coverage, unsafe water, and a collapsing health system are turning treatable illnesses into death sentences for already malnourished children.”
The war in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, has devastated food systems nationwide, triggered mass displacement and repeated disruptions to health, water and nutrition services.
Since the start of the war, the UN says 13.6 million people have fled their homes, including 9.1 million displaced within the country.
The fall of the city of Al-Fasher to the RSF in October last year, after 18 months of bombardment and starvation, caused tens of thousands of people to flee to neighbouring areas, amid reports of mass killings, rape and abductions.
The World Health Organisation's Representative in Sudan, Dr Shoble Sahbani, says displacement is putting significant pressure on a health system that's also become a target for attacks.
“The newly displaced populations, including returnees, require urgent health interventions, which the weakened health system is unable to cope with. The health system has been ravaged by attacks, loss and damage of equipment and supplies, a shortage of health workforce and operational funds.”
Since the start of the war in April 2023, the WHO has verified 205 attacks on health care facilities and personnel in Sudan.
Mr Sahbani says patients and health care workers should not be at risk of death while seeking and providing care, urgently calling for greater protections.
"Such attacks deprive communities of care for years to come instilling terror in patients and health workers and creating unsurmountable barriers to life-saving treatment. The country, meanwhile, is facing multiple disease outbreaks, including cholera, malaria, dengue, measles in addition of course to malnutrition and life-threatening conditions.”
Ahead of a UN Security Council meeting called in response to the IPC's report, UK Ambassador to the UN James Kariuki says the spread of famine comes amid ongoing restrictions to humanitarian access.
"This is a devastating indictment of how the SAF and RSF continue to block life-saving aid. Actions like these have made Sudan the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 33 million people in desperate need. This deliberate cruelty is designed to exacerbate an already insufferable situation. Starvation must never be used as a weapon of war.”
The ambassador condemning recent deadly attacks in Sudan, including two strikes in North Kordofan province.
“We condemn recent drone strikes across Sudan, including a reported RSF attack on the WFP, a World Food Program, aid convoy on Friday, which killed an aid worker, and another attack in North Kordofan which killed 24 people, including 8 children. Humanitarian workers must be able to deliver the response on the ground without obstruction and without retaliation.”
The UN projects across the country, nearly 4.2 million cases of acute malnutrition are now expected in 2026, including more than 800,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition.
The IPC report has warned as Um Baru and Kernoi the become the latest to reach famine levels of hunger, a rapidly deteriorating situation is unfolding in Kordofan province, where fighting has concentrated in recent months.
The health monitor experts are calling for an immediate end to fighting and large-scale humanitarian access, warning if the situation doesn't improve, famine will likely continue to spread.
