Sudan

  • Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan
  • From: 01/01/2026 to: 31/12/2026
  • Published: 26/02/2026
  • Coordinated by: OCHA

Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2026 / Part 1: Humanitarian Needs

1.1 Crisis overview

Crisis overview

As we enter 2026, the people of Sudan have lived through close to three years of ferocious conflict. Families have been robbed of their homes and loved ones. Communities in the worst affected areas have been consumed by starvation and sickness. An entire generation has watched their childhoods and futures erode before their eyes.

Over the course of 2025, there have been significant shifts in frontlines and conflict dynamics. Fighting has subsided notably in Khartoum and Aj Jazirah, providing relative stability and improved security to enable more than 2.2 million people to return to their areas of origin. Meanwhile, hostilities have dramatically intensified in much of the Darfur and Kordofan regions, plunging local populations into extreme danger and deprivation.

The conflict has unleashed an unprecedented protection crisis, characterized by systematic atrocities, blatant disregard for International Humanitarian Law and persistent impunity. Protection risks are a major driver of humanitarian needs and are particularly grave in the Darfur and Kordofan regions. Nowhere were these trends more alarming or brutal in 2025 than in North Darfur, where the world watched as massacres and other horrific violence unfolded first in Zamzam camp in April and later across El Fasher starting in late October.

Indiscriminate attacks, summary executions, ethnic targeting, kidnappings and other attacks against civilians have been reported throughout 2025. Artillery shelling, drone attacks and airstrikes have been launched in densely populated areas, with some hitting schools, health facilities, water treatment plants, markets and other civilian infrastructure. Scores of attacks on health care have been recorded, killing more than 1,600 health workers and patients. Siege tactics have been used in multiple areas, including in El Fasher, Kadugli and Dilling, endangering the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians and cutting them off from food, water and humanitarian assistance. Local responders, including mutual aid groups, have faced continued risks including attacks, detention and looting across affected areas, as they risk their lives to support their communities.

“A drone hit the ward where families of the sick were staying. We found their remains everywhere. The most horrifying day was when the emergency room was struck, killing about 70 people. We rushed to help but we couldn’t use a flashlight or carry the wounded because we were afraid of being attacked again."

Medical doctor in El Fasher, North Darfur

Conflict-related sexual violence is rampant and relentless. Horrific forms of rape and gang rape have been documented, some targeting children as young as one year old, as well as abduction, forced marriage and sexual slavery. Sexual exploitation and abuse are also rife, with reports of women and girls facing pressure to exchange labour or sex for food, shelter or other forms of assistance.

Girls and boys continue to be subjected to grave violations, including sexual violence, forced recruitment and abduction. They are also directly affected by repeated displacement, family separation and deprivation, which have severely weakened protective family, community and institutional structures. As a result, children face heightened and layered protection risks including abuse, exploitation, neglect, psychosocial harm and exclusion from essential services. The conflict has created a climate of mass trauma among children. In the Multisector Needs Assessment (MSNA) done in August 2025, more than 50 per cent of households reported at least one child having shown signs of psychosocial distress in the previous three months.

Displaced family in front of makeshift shelter

South Kordofan, Sudan

A displaced family stands in front of their makeshift shelter.

NRC

Sudan remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, with 9.3 million people internally displaced as of 30 October. A total of 4.4 million people have fled to neighbouring countries, while Sudan hosts over 860,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, including more than 272,000 who have relocated internally, placing additional strain on already overstretched infrastructure and services. Many internally displaced persons have been attacked while fleeing conflict-affected areas particularly in the Darfur and Kordofan regions, including alarming reports of extortion, sexual violence, kidnapping and trafficking. Persons with disabilities and older persons are often disproportionately affected by the displacement crisis, unable to flee in time and often left behind in high-risk areas.

The conflict has thrust much of Sudan into unprecedented levels of food insecurity, threatening the lives of millions, with more than 20 areas either in or at-risk of famine. It has shattered essential infrastructure in conflict-affected areas, including water systems, schools and health facilities. Electricity blackouts and communication outages have severed critical lifelines, while markets have been significantly impacted by high inflation and broken supply chains.

Landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) litter large parts of the country—including farmlands, homes, roads and playgrounds—threatening people’s lives and disrupting their access to services and livelihoods. These impacts are particularly acute in areas of active conflict and those experiencing large-scale returns; 91 per cent of people in Aj Jazirah and 84 per cent of people in North Darfur report concerns about landmine and ERW contamination.

“There is a shell embedded in the wall of my house, and we are not approaching it because we are afraid it might explode... I am worried about my children.”

Father who recently returned with his family to Khartoum

The conflict overlays other protracted shocks, further exacerbating people’s suffering. Seasonal flooding continues to drive humanitarian needs; almost 120,000 people were affected by flooding in 2025, the majority of them (81 per cent) in Kassala and Gedaref. The impacts of disease outbreaks are also worsening, including cholera, dengue, Hepatitis E and malaria, fueled by the breakdown of health, water and sanitation services in many parts of the country. Deteriorating economic conditions, including inflation, market fragmentation and liquidity shortages, are further exacerbating people’s hardships, destroying their livelihoods and depleting household purchasing power.

References

  1. IOM DTM. Sudan Displacement and Return Overview – Update 1 (17 December 2025) (link).
  2. OHCHR. Report on the human rights situation in the Sudan from 1 January to 30 June 2025 (19 September 2025) (link).
  3. WHO. Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA) (accessed on 30 January 2026) (link).
  4. Protection Cluster. Sudan Protection Analysis Update (1 October 2025) (link).
  5. Protection Cluster. Sudan Protection Analysis Update (1 October 2025) (link).
  6. UN Women. “Last and Least”: Gender Dimensions of Food Insecurity in Sudan (November 2025) (link).
  7. IOM. Multi-Sector Needs Assessment, August 2025 (23 October 2025) (link).
  8. IOM DTM. Sudan Displacement and Return Overview – Update 1 (17 December 2025) (link).
  9. UNHCR. Sudan situation dashboard (accessed on 12 January 2026) (link).
  10. Protection Cluster. Sudan Protection Analysis Update (1 October 2025).
  11. IOM. Multi-Sector Needs Assessment, August 2025 (23 October 2025) (link).
  12. OCHA. Sudan – Floods: People and Areas Affected (accessed on 12 January 2026) (link).