Key facts - 2 years of Sudan’s conflict (March 2025)
By Fathiaa Abdalla
Nearly 2 years after the April 2023 outbreak of conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan faces a staggering humanitarian disaster. The power struggle has unleashed widespread atrocities, killing tens of thousands of people including children, destroying healthcare facilities and agriculture, causing mass displacement, and an unprecedented famine crisis, with the WFP declaring Sudan “the epicentre of the world’s largest and most severe hunger crisis ever”. The UN further identifies it as “the largest and most devastating displacement, humanitarian and protection crisis in the world today”.
“The epicentre of the world’s largest and most severe hunger crisis ever”
The conflict has severely disrupted food production, particularly in key agricultural regions like Gezira and Gadarif, causing food prices to skyrocket by up to 500%. This has left millions of displaced people without access to basic food.
Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) is being used as a weapon of war with women continuing to bear the brunt. The UN says “there is an epidemic of sexual violence rages” and the number of people at risk of SGBV has tripled to an estimated 12.1 million people, or 25% of the population. A recent report from UNICEF states that since 2024, 221 cases of child rape have been recorded across 9 states in Sudan, with children as young as one among the survivors. Of these, 147 victims (66%) are girls, while 74 (33%) are boys. 16 survivors are under the age of 5, including 4 one-year-olds. Another 77 other incidents of sexual assault against children, primarily attempted rape, have also been reported.
UN agencies report that child malnutrition in Sudan is at emergency levels, with 15.6% and 30% among children under 5 in central Darfur and Zam Zam camp respectively. According to MSF’s nutritional screening in Omdurman, 7.1 % of children screened were severely, acutely malnourished.
Acute malnutrition is life-threatening, with malnourished children up to 11 times more likely to die than a well-nourished child.
In numbers:
12,869,601 people forcibly displaced.
9 million internally displaced inside Sudan (size of London)
3,747,139 fled to the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South
Sudan and Uganda
1 in 3 Sudanese forced to leave their homes.
17 million children are out of school.
5 million children and pregnant and lactating women at an elevated risk of malnutrition.
3.2 million Sudan children facing acute malnutrition.
5 million people, including children under the age of five and pregnant women, will face heightened threat of death due to a lack of access healthcare services.
66% of Sudan’s 18 states are facing multiple disease outbreaks, including cholera, malaria and measles amid a collapsed public healthcare system.
90% of health facilities are not functional, and that cholera, malaria, dengue and measles have been reported in over 12 states.
24.6 million people are food insecure with 637,000 on the brink of famine.
2 out of 3 people in Sudan require urgent humanitarian assistance.
US$6.0 Billion is the UN appeal for 2025 to address the basic lifesaving activities for 21 million Sudanese people inside Sudan ($4.2 B) and 5 million displaced across borders ($1.8 B).
Sources: UNICEF, WHO, UNHCR.