SUDAN: OVER 2 MILLION BABIES BORN INTO 18 MONTHS OF DEVASTATING CONFLICT

Toronto, October 15, 2024 – Over 2 million babies are estimated to have been born in 18 months of devastating conflict in Sudan, all at risk from a decimated healthcare system and crisis levels of hunger, according to new analysis by Save the Children.

The estimate is based on recent UN data indicating about 1.3 million babies will be born in Sudan in 2024, along with a Save the Children estimate for the first year of the conflict. [1]. It is estimated that about 4,000 babies are born on average every day in Sudan which has a population of about 50 million.

The increasingly violent conflict, that started on 15 April last year, has made the delivery of healthcare – including reproductive and newborn care – increasingly challenging, putting mothers and children at risk of complications that could have lifelong and even fatal consequences.

Up to 80% of hospitals in the worst-affected areas have closed [2] and two out of three people do not have access to essential health services, according to the ICRC. [3] Medical staff, supplies, safe water, and electricity are in short supply and medical personnel, facilities, transport and supplies are coming under attack.

The first 28 days of a child’s life – the neonatal, or newborn period – is the most dangerous, and carries the highest risk of death. It is also the most dangerous period for the newborn’s mother. Even before the war that broke out in April last year, Sudan had one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, according to the UN.[4]   

The World Health Organization (WHO) has verified over 100 attacks on healthcare in Sudan since the start of the conflict – a number it says is a large underestimate.[6] The UN health body recently condemned an attack on the only maternity hospital in El Fasher, North Darfur, while Sudan’s largest referral maternity hospital in Khartoum has been out of action since 2023 due to the conflict, having closed again this August one day after reopening.

Amar Osman*, a father of six, is a Save the Children child protection worker based in El Fasher. His youngest child was born under fire the day the war started. Earlier this year he made the difficult decision to send his wife and children away from El Fasher for their safety. 

“My wife gave birth to our youngest, a baby girl, the day the war started at four o’clock in the afternoon. The battles had just reached El Fasher and everyone was moving. The medical staff asked us to evacuate the hospital because it was being targeted. My wife and I and our newborn child fled the hospital. When we got home, I found my children in the care of their aunt, terrified. The children’s aunt had protected them from the shelling by hiding them in the kitchen.”

The risks to babies and their mothers have been compounded by staggering rates of hunger and malnutrition. Over half of Sudan’s population, or 25.6 million people, are facing crisis levels or worse of hunger, with one in four – 8.5 million – on the brink of or facing famine-like conditions.

Children born to malnourished mothers are at higher risk of fetal growth restriction, which contributes to poorer health outcomes later in life and increased neonatal mortality.

Mohamed Abdiladif, Interim Country Director for Save the Children in Sudan, said:

“Babies in Sudan are being born into a nightmare in one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes right now. With 80% of health facilities closed amid a collapsing health system, many pregnant women are giving birth without access to the lifesaving care that they and their children need.  Sudan’s food crisis means that mothers are missing out on the nutrition they need during pregnancy and childbirth – with dangerous and irreversible consequences for their children’s survival, growth and learning.”

Save the Children is calling on the international community to take urgent political action to address this crisis, for an immediate ceasefire and meaningful progress towards a lasting peace agreement, and for more funding to strengthen health systems.

The UN’s coordinated US$2.7 billion response plan for Sudan is only 51% funded while funding for health programmes is less than half (47%).

Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 and is currently supporting children and their families across Sudan providing health, nutrition, education, child protection and food security and livelihoods support. Save the Children is also supporting refugees from Sudan in Egypt and South Sudan. In Khartoum, Save the Children is supporting two health facilities with medicines and healthcare workers. We are also providing cash assistance to families so that they can buy food for their children. 

ENDS