UN calls for action as famine and disease stalk Sudan

Risk of ‘countless’ additional deaths, with health system in ‘freefall’ and cholera cases surging amid 18-month war.

United Nations agencies have warned that famine and disease threaten to cause “countless” deaths in war-torn Sudan unless emergency action is taken.

Malnourishment, crumbling healthcare facilities and a surge of cholera cases are blighting the population, officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday as they underlined the “immense challenges” faced by aid workers after 18 months of war in the North African country.

“Malnourished children and mothers are dying due to lack of access to care, and cholera is spreading in many parts of the country,” said WHO’s regional director Hanan Balkhy at a media briefing in Cairo, the capital of neighbouring Egypt. “Without immediate intervention, famine and disease will claim countless more lives.”

The ongoing war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has raged since April 2023, killing 20,000 people and displacing more than 10 million – including 2.4 million who have fled to other countries – according to UN estimates.

The international community has been floundering in its efforts to bring an end to the devastating conflict, which has been overshadowed by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.