Famine is forcing mothers to feed their starving children grass

Every second, a child in Sudan edges closer to death. After more than two years of war, a rare and deadly famine is sweeping quickly across the country – trapping families in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Over 770,000 children are close to death from malnutrition and will not survive without immediate help. Mothers have no choice but to feed their hungry children grass – there is nothing else to eat. More than half the population is desperately hungry. Children are already dying every day in refugee camps. 

In just four months, over 1,000 children have died from a combination of hunger and disease. For those who survive, the damaging affects of famine will permanently damage their brain. Only immediate help now can save them from this nightmare future. 

UNICEF teams are on the ground now in Sudan. Despite the dangers, with even aid convoys coming under attack, we are delivering life-saving food to families. But we cannot do it without you. Please give what you can to help children before it’s too late. They cannot wait a minute longer. 

Health volunteers screen children for malnutrition and provide vitamin A tablets during a UNICEF-supported door-to-door nutrition campaign. Thousands of children need this help now if they are to survive – you can help provide it. 

You can help save children from famine in Sudan.

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The situation for children like Umran is desperately urgent. Yet even severe acute malnutrition is preventable and treatable. But we have to be quick.

In 2024 in Sudan, UNICEF provided: 

• 1.9 million children and women with life-saving health services.

• 431,015 children with treatment for the most deadly form of malnutrition. 

• 95% of all life-saving therapeutic food.

• 9.8 million children and families with improved safe water and sanitation services. 

Starving babies like Umran can be saved – but only if we act fast

At just seven months old, Umran should be smiling, playing, laughing. Instead, he lays silent and still in his mother’s arms, weighing barely 5 kilos, his arms as thin as sticks. He cries with hunger, but there is no food. 

A health worker measures his arm with a special tape to screen for malnutrition. The tape goes red and confirms the worst fears of Umran’s mother: her son is severely malnourished, in pain, and close to dying.

Thanks to support like yours, Umran was treated at a nutrition centre. And despite the severity of his condition, with ongoing care he will be able to recover. But countless children just like him won’t make it without urgent help. Every 20 minutes, another child starves to death in Sudan. You can help save them today. 

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Like Umran, six-month-old Baraa was dangerously malnourished – extremely thin and weak. His mother Manahil feared he wouldn’t survive. But thanks to a life-saving nutrition programme and ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), Baraa gained 3kg in just two months. Now, he’s smiling, playing, and thriving.

Across Sudan, over 1,900 UNICEF-supported clinics and 82 mobile teams are racing to find and treat children like Baraa before it’s too late. In scorching heat and conflict zones, they are screening malnourished children and saving lives.

But time is running out. With your help, we can reach more children and save them from famine. 

A miracle food for children

UNICEF supporters are enabling us today to reach thousands of children with ready-to-use therapeutic food, or RUTF. This is a peanut paste packed with vitamins and nutrients that save starving children’s lives. It doesn’t need water (which can be unsafe in crises like Sudan’s), refrigeration or cooking. And it can bring a child back from the brink of death in just weeks.

People like you are also helping us provide children with high-energy biscuits to protect them from hunger. And therapeutic milk for those too weak to swallow solid food.

Your support now can put this miracle food into the hands of a mother, and give her child the chance to live. Please act now: without your support, children may not survive.

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Help bring a child back from the brink of death

In 2024, the number of children admitted to health care for severe acute malnutrition rose by 44%  – and things are projected to get worse in the coming months. That’s why your support now is so important.

With help from people like you, UNICEF last year distributed 438,000 cartons of RUTF – the miracle food that brings babies back from the brink of death.

We provided nutrition screening for over 6.7 million young children, and supplements like vitamin A to 2.9 million children.

Thanks to our supporters, UNICEF is saving children from other threats too, including disease and conflict. UNICEF efforts to combat cholera contributed to a dramatic reduction in weekly cholera cases, from a peak of 5,000 last year to 400 by December. And we delivered critical child protection services to over 2.8 million children.

But these deadly threats have not gone away. Children need life-saving help right this very minute. With your support, we can continue to save children’s lives.

A mother cares for her son who is suffering from malnutrition at a health centre. UNICEF supporters provided therapeutic milk and ready-to-use-therapeutic food for children being treated at the clinic. 

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Malnutrition is at emergency levels. UNICEF is helping thousands of children now, but for thousands more death is at their doorstep. They can’t wait any longer.

Time is running out to prevent a catastrophic loss of life

Nearly 25 million people – more than half of the population – are hungry, and famine is spreading fast. But thanks to our supporters, UNICEF is able to help children survive this living nightmare. 

With your help, we can continue supporting these families and reach even more children who are in desperate need.

  • €100 can help provide vital high-energy biscuits to keep 10 children safe from malnutrition.
  • €150 can help supply emergency therapeutic food to 15 severely acutely malnourished children.
  • €250 can help give emergency therapeutic milk to 25 children too weak to swallow solid food.

Other Ways to Donate

You can make a donation by phone by calling 01 878 3000 from Monday to Friday between 9:00-5:30pm.

Or you can send your donation by post to:

Freepost; UNICEF Ireland, 33 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin D01 R283.

In the unlikely event that the funds raised exceed UNICEF’s funding requirements for this appeal, your donation will be directed to where the need is greatest.

Help protect children