The international humanitarian aid organization World Vision has warned that more than 600,000 people could die of hunger in days or weeks in Sudan, where two years of armed conflict have begun, if urgent measures are not taken.
"Sudan is now facing a perfect storm of hunger, violence, and trauma. Children suffer from acute malnutrition, families are torn apart, cholera cases are increasing in the White Nile putting 292,000 children at risk, and yet the world remains silent. Simply put, there is not enough aid to feed the vulnerable people," said Simon Mane, national director of World Vision Sudan.
The NGO has warned that more than 30 million people in Sudan, more than half of its population, need humanitarian assistance. However, only 6.3 percent of the required $4.2 billion has been received this year to meet the citizens’ needs.
Furthermore, cuts in international aid funding have reduced the amount allocated to Sudan to $2.4 billion, and the number of people who will benefit has decreased from 20.9 million to 17.3 million. "The cuts, unless reversed, will cost children’s lives and mean that millions of people will be left without food and vital services, facing death and deprivation," Mane lamented.
World Vision has urged the international community to take action to prevent the estimated 600,000 "avoidable" deaths from occurring. "If we were to say that more than 990 of the world’s largest passenger planes could crash in a matter of weeks, killing the same number of people, but it could be stopped, surely the international community would do everything in its power to make it happen," Simon Mane emphasized.
SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND MENTAL DISORDERS
A recent report from World Vision, ‘Unprecedented,’ revealed the devastating impact the conflict is having on the country’s civilian population. According to the report, up to 65 percent of women may be experiencing sexual violence, while 6.1 million people are at risk of developing mental disorders due to the trauma of conflict, hunger, and displacement.
At this point, the study indicates that 15.7 million children and adults are at a higher risk of developing mental illnesses, a crisis that will persist long after the fighting stops.
"Sexual violence is perpetrated against women, while children suffer traumas that will mark an entire generation. While the world focuses on other major crises, I fear that Sudan is being forgotten. We must not allow this to continue," said Phiona Koyiet, World Vision’s senior technical advisor on mental health and psychosocial support.
With all this, the NGO has called on the international community to prioritize funding for nutrition, protection, mental health services, education, resilience, and peacebuilding.
"Thousands of lives will be affected in the coming period if the international community does not intervene. We also need full and safe humanitarian access through conflict lines to deliver essential aid where it is most needed," Mane concluded.