This is as the country’s deepening conflict, mass displacement and severe access restrictions push millions closer to famine.
According to an alert from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system, acute malnutrition among children has surpassed emergency thresholds in two newly assessed areas of North Darfur, Um Baru and Kernoi, following the fall of El Fasher in October 2025 and the large‑scale displacement that followed.
An assessment conducted in December found acute malnutrition rates of 52.9% among children in Um Baru, nearly double the internationally recognised famine threshold, and around 34% in Kernoi. Analysts said that while the alert is not a formal famine declaration, the situation is deteriorating at an alarming rate and requires urgent intervention.
The IPC warned that these levels indicate a sharply increased risk of preventable deaths, adding that many conflict‑hit or inaccessible locations may be experiencing similar conditions that cannot yet be verified.
Um Baru and Kernoi lie in remote north‑western North Darfur, near key displacement routes towards the Chadian border. Both areas have absorbed large numbers of people fleeing fighting in and around El Fasher, where markets have collapsed, incomes have vanished, and humanitarian operations have been severely curtailed.
Sudan’s war, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, has devastated food systems across the country. Farming, trading and health services have all been disrupted, leading to widespread hunger, repeated outbreaks of disease and a rapid erosion of basic services.
IPC projections now estimate that 4.2 million children will suffer acute malnutrition in 2026, including more than 800 000 facing severe acute malnutrition. These figures represent a significant increase from 2025 levels.
The new alert builds on earlier IPC analyses that confirmed famine conditions in El Fasher in 2024 and in Kadugli, South Kordofan, in September 2025. Famine risk had already been projected in at least 20 locations across Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan, and analysts say the latest findings suggest famine‑like conditions are spreading as fighting continues, displacing families and destroying access to food, water and medical care.
Conditions are described as particularly dire across Greater Kordofan, where markets are among the least functional in Sudan, and food prices far exceed national averages. Renewed fighting since late October has displaced more than 88 000 people, pushing total displacement in the region to over one million. With humanitarian convoys frequently blocked, looted or denied permission to enter conflict zones, many communities remain almost entirely without assistance.
The IPC warned that without an immediate halt to the violence and widespread access for humanitarian agencies, preventable deaths are likely to rise sharply.
–UN/ChannelAfrica–
