The ongoing conflict in Sudan has severely compromised people’s food security, leaving millions in danger of malnutrition. In conflict-affected areas, such as South Darfur, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams see how internally displaced people are struggling to meet their basic necessities, leaving them more susceptible to this malnutrition crisis. Already lacking sufficient humanitarian assistance, South Darfur is now bracing for the upcoming rainy season, when it will become nearly impossible to move supplies in at the scale needed. Action must be taken now, while it is possible to avert the worst of what could come.

Children under five years old, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, are among the most vulnerable groups affected. In 2024, over 7,200 children under five years old and pregnant and breastfeeding women from Nyala and its surrounding areas were admitted into our outpatient feeding programmes with severe malnutrition. Severe acute malnutrition is a life-threatening condition if left untreated. 

Limited humanitarian presence, increased needs

The lack of a humanitarian response commensurate with the needs and limited resources in South Darfur, including by UN agencies, has resulted in continued gaps in life-saving services, especially the treatment of malnutrition. MSF had already initiated emergency nutrition support in some of the most affected areas, but under the current circumstances, our teams are facing considerable pressure to expand and sustain these efforts.

A nutrition response under pressure 

As part of our outpatient feeding programmes, those enrolled receive therapeutic food to bring home. After seeing instances where families were dividing up therapeutic food to feed all their members, MSF began distributing food parcels for entire families of children and pregnant and breastfeeding women enrolled in our malnutrition treatment programmes in December. 

The aim was to offer some short-term relief to those facing the harshest consequences of food insecurity, particularly as the economic situation continues to deteriorate. Women are oftentimes having to care for their large families alone after being displaced by violence, while cut off from income-generating activities and their support networks.

“In order to reduce instances where the child's therapeutic food is divided amongst the hungry relatives, we provide a family ration for a duration of two months,” says Hunter McGovern, MSF’s food distribution coordinator in South Darfur. “This allows the child to receive the full course of their nutrition therapy while increasing the nutrition situation of the whole family. Even with this activity in progress, the needs remain overwhelming.”  

MSF’s response provides food rations amounting to 2,000 calories per day per person for families, at an average of five persons per family, to cover a period of two months. This programme helps give the whole family the food they need, which in turn supports the treatment of malnourished children and pregnant and lactating mothers. 

“During our distributions, we found that the average family size is much larger than what we had initially planned for—sometimes as many as ten people per household. This underscores just how critical the food shortage is and how much more assistance is required to meet the real needs of people,” says McGovern.

Underscoring the critical nutrition shortage, we have heard that people travel when they learn that their relative has received food assistance.

The need for a stronger humanitarian response

MSF remains committed to addressing the urgent nutrition needs of people affected by the conflict in South Darfur. The scale of the crisis far exceeds the capacities of the limited numbers of organisations currently responding.

We are fast approaching the rainy season and the hunger gap, the time of the year when it is most difficult for people in South Darfur to access food and when it is most difficult for humanitarian supplies to reach the state. Supplies for the treatment of malnutrition, and for food distribution programmes, must be pre-positioned now before communities are cut off.

Local responders need funding and support to continue and expand food distribution programmes for their communities. Running food distributions and expanding inpatient and outpatient therapeutic feeding programmes in South Darfur is challenging but possible - and can help prevent needless suffering and mortality.

With food security deteriorating and malnutrition rates rising, urgent action is needed to scale up humanitarian assistance and ensure that children and families receive the support they desperately need. Without a concerted effort, the crisis will only deepen, putting countless lives at risk.