Ahead of the third anniversary of the start of the devastating war in Sudan, humanitarian organizations are warning that essential services and survival-critical systems are collapsing. As the conflict approaches this grim milestone, they are drawing particular attention to the needs of those displaced by the war, both within the country and across borders, as well as to the urgent needs of children and women, who are disproportionately impacted by the ongoing emergency.
Intense fighting broke out on April 15, 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the capital, Khartoum. The violence quickly spread across Sudan, killing and injuring thousands and forcing millions from their homes.
The scale of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan is unprecedented. An estimated 33.7 million people — nearly two-thirds of Sudan's population — are currently in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. Among those in dire need are over 20 million children.
What began as a power struggle between the SAF and the RSF has resulted in the collapse of healthcare, food systems, and civilian protection nationwide, as well as in countries hosting refugees.
NRC: Sudan’s displaced are pushed into hunger as livelihoods collapse across the region
In a report released on Thursday, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warns that families displaced by the war in Sudan are facing extreme hunger, repeated displacement, and the total loss of their livelihoods. Many families have been displaced multiple times, which has compounded their losses and increased their exhaustion.
According to an NRC survey conducted in March across Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad, most families who fled with nothing are skipping meals and have no income, nearly three years after the war began. While some refugees in countries such as Egypt and Libya are able to find work, many still struggle to meet their basic needs and remain in precarious conditions.
For almost three years, host communities and displaced families have shared food, shelter, and scarce resources, preventing an even greater catastrophe. However, the NRC's latest data shows that this solidarity is reaching its breaking point.
“For three years, families have supported each other through unimaginable hardship. Today, they are telling us clearly: they are exhausted, they are eating less, and they cannot cope much longer,” said NRC’s Secretary General Jan Egeland.
“Solidarity among and between the Sudanese themselves has carried this crisis, but local compassion cannot carry it alone.”
Repeated displacement is causing families to fall apart. On average, households surveyed by NRC reported experiencing nearly four major losses since fleeing, including the loss of homes, livelihoods, and personal belongings. Many have been forced to flee multiple times, leaving them with less each time.
These findings come as Sudan remains home to the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 9 million people are internally displaced, and over 4.6 million have fled to other countries.
Neighboring countries face growing pressure. Chad hosts over 900,000 Sudanese refugees, and South Sudan hosts over 1.3 million refugees and returnees, despite facing its own humanitarian crisis. Egypt has received approximately 1.5 million people, and Libya has received over 500,000.
The ongoing crisis disproportionately affects women and children. In Sudan, Chad, and South Sudan, 20 percent of women do not have access to a toilet or latrine, which is three times the percentage of men without access. Women and girls often travel long distances to fetch water and face harassment and violence along the way.
The cumulative weight of hunger, displacement, and loss results in a collapse of people's ability to live with dignity. According to the NRC survey, only a fraction of displaced families feel that their current living conditions allow them to live with dignity. The percentage is as low as 15 percent in Sudan, rising to 25 percent in Chad, and 43 percent in South Sudan.
According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, over 19 million people in Sudan are currently experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or higher).
The rapid deterioration of food security has left approximately 146,000 people in catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5), and more than 4.9 million people are estimated to be experiencing emergency levels of hunger (IPC Phase 4).
Children are at heightened risk. Hunger and family separation further compound this risk. In Chad, family separation triples the risk of child marriage and nearly doubles child labor. Instability is also driving widespread psychological distress.
NRC warns that the crisis across the region is no longer defined only by displacement, but also by the erosion of resilience among displaced people and host communities.
“What we are seeing is not just a humanitarian crisis, but a collapse of survival systems,” Egeland said.
“Communities that have shared everything for three years have been pushed beyond their limits.”
He underlined that ordinary people had done the extraordinary: sharing their food and shelter when they had almost none.
“It is time for a bystanding world to match local solidarity with international action by scaling up funding for life-saving aid while pushing much harder for diplomatic solutions that can end the senseless violence,” Egeland added.
MSF: Three years of war have shattered Sudan’s lifelines
In a statement released on Wednesday, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, condemned the rampant violence, pervasive impunity, and restricted humanitarian access amid the collapse of Sudan's health system.
According to MSF, the confrontation between the SAF and the RSF, along with the allied groups of both warring parties, has evolved into the systematic dismantling of essential services that people rely on, including healthcare, protection, food security, and basic safety.
In 2025 alone, MSF teams treated more than 7,700 patients for physical violence, including gunshot wounds. They provided over 250,000 emergency consultations and over 4,200 consultations for sexual violence, which is often used as a weapon of war, with women bearing the heaviest burden.
Over the same period, more than 15,000 children under five were admitted to inpatient feeding programs due to acute malnutrition, which is on the rise and compounds the risk of death from otherwise treatable illnesses.
Currently, more than 4.2 million children across Sudan suffer from malnutrition, including over 800,000 who are at risk of dying due to severe acute malnutrition.
The international humanitarian response, including that of UN agencies in regions such as Darfur, remains insufficient to prevent avoidable loss of life. Funding cuts are exacerbating an already dire situation, and people are paying the price. They are dying from preventable causes because both the Sudanese authorities and the international community are failing to provide aid.
Additionally, hospitals have been looted, bombed, and occupied. Medical staff have been threatened, detained, or forced to flee. Ambulances have been prevented from reaching the wounded.
Since April 2023, more than 2,000 people have been killed and 720 injured in 213 attacks on health facilities across the country. According to the World Health Organization, in 2025, Sudan accounted for 82 percent of all global deaths from attacks on healthcare. During that same period, MSF documented 100 violent incidents targeting its staff, supported facilities, and medical supplies.
Currently, the vast region of Kordofan, located in the south-central part of Sudan, is the most volatile and active conflict zone, raising fears that it will be the next site of atrocities, as has happened in other regions, including Darfur, Khartoum, and Gezira. Kordofan is also one of the least accessible areas for humanitarian organizations, leaving communities more exposed as violence intensifies.
In recent months, there has been a disturbing shift in the conduct of the war, including the extensive use of drones by both the RSF and the SAF. Strikes are increasingly occurring far beyond the frontlines and are targeting logistical infrastructure and populated civilian areas.
“The teams are receiving patients with horrific injuries: patients with transfixing wounds, amputated limbs, devastating burns—many of whom are already dead by the time they reach the hospital, said Muriel Boursier, MSF Emergency Coordinator in Darfur.
“The scale of violence and atrocity we witness is unbearable.”
MSF emphasizes that the crisis in Sudan is not only a humanitarian catastrophe, but also a collective political failure. After three years of what has become the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, governments and international organizations have failed to meet even the most basic expectations.
Repeated warnings of atrocities, including those committed against non-Arab communities in El Fasher by the RSF, have resulted in no meaningful action.
Meanwhile, children, mothers, and others continue to die every day from indiscriminate violence, including mass killings, starvation, torture, and rape, or from a lack of basic services that the international humanitarian system is supposed to provide.
“Now more than ever, protection of civilians, respect for healthcare facilities, accountability for atrocities, and sustained humanitarian access are urgent and non-negotiable”, said Amande Bazerolle, MSF Head of Mission in Sudan.
“Three years of war have already cost Sudan immeasurably. Allowing this trajectory to continue risks condemning an entire generation.”
MSF calls on the warring parties and their allies to take immediate, concrete steps to protect civilians. The organization urges accountability for the ongoing violations that are inflicting immense suffering on the population.
“Influential international actors must urgently exert meaningful diplomatic pressure on those financing, arming, or politically supporting the parties to the conflict the MSF statement said,
“Even though they have so far tragically failed to use their leverage to stop mass atrocities, a window still exists to influence the situation and prevent further crimes.”
World Vision: Sudan has become the most traumatic place for children
On Tuesday, the humanitarian organization World Vision warned that an entire generation in Sudan is being systematically wiped out. Meanwhile, international silence is measured in lives lost every hour.
The humanitarian organization added that children are being killed or injured daily as the violence continues and grave violations of children’s rights are reported across the country. Homes, schools, and health facilities have been damaged or destroyed, leaving children without safety, education, care, or a sense of normal life.
Three years of conflict have taken a staggering toll. Currently, more than 20 million children are in desperate need as widespread hunger grips the nation. Famine-like conditions have been confirmed in multiple regions.
World Vision and other humanitarian organizations continue to deliver life-saving assistance on the ground, but the gap between human need and available resources is widening at an alarming rate.
The 2026 UN Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan requires US$2.9 billion to reach over 20 million people across Sudan. To date, it is just 16 percent funded, having received $468 million so far.
“We demand an immediate and massive increase in global funding to scale up life-saving food, water, and specialized nutrition services in Sudan, “World Vision said.
“Most critically, there must be an immediate end to the targeting of civilians and a concerted effort to protect unaccompanied minors.”
Further information
Full text: Exhausted: Three years of displacement and the collapse of survival systems in Sudan and the region, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), report, published April 9, 2026
https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/exhausted-three-years-of-crisis-in-sudan/exhausted_three-years-of-displacement-and-the-collapse-of-survival-systems-in-sudan-and-the-region.pdf
Full text: Three years of war have shattered Sudan’s lifelines, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), press release, published April 8, 2026
https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/three-years-war-have-shattered-sudans-lifelines
Full text: Three Years of Agony: Sudan’s Children Trapped and Carry the Deepest Scars, World Vision, press release, published April 7, 2026
https://www.wvi.org/newsroom/sudan/three-years-agony-sudans-children-trapped-and-carry-deepest-scars