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

1.2 Humanitarian needs and risks

Humanitarian needs and risks in 2026

As the conflict in Sudan rages, people’s suffering has continued to surge. This year, 33.7 million people in Sudan need humanitarian assistance—the largest people in need figure in the world, and an increase of 3.3 million people compared to 2025.

This increase has been driven largely by the unabated continuation of violence and conflict, with needs rising in almost every state in the Darfur and Kordofan regions, as well as in Aj Jazirah and Khartoum due to large-scale returns. Meanwhile, other areas of the country—including River Nile, Red Sea, Northern and Gedaref states—saw decreases in the number of people in need as the situation improved and some internally displaced people returned to their areas of origin, although displacements from the Darfur and Kordofan regions continued to many of these areas in late 2025.

“I am responsible for everything now: food, water, children, and safety. Even when assistance exists, it does not reach us. Every day is about deciding what to give up."

Affected woman and head of household, West Kordofan

In 2026, all localities in Sudan are assessed to be in inter-sectoral severity level 3 or above. The number of localities in extreme or catastrophic severity (inter-sectoral severity 4 or 5) has decreased compared to last year, from 111 to 98 localities. Despite this overall geographical decrease, the concentration of needs in severity 4 and 5 localities has actually increased from 17.9 million people in need in 2025 to 18.4 million in 2026.

Approximately 1.7 million people live in areas with catastrophic severity of need (inter-sectoral severity 5): El Fasher, Melit, Tawila and Um Kadadah in North Darfur, and Habila, Dilling and Kadugli in South Kordofan. People in these localities are experiencing severe or extreme levels of food insecurity, with all but one locality classified as being in or at risk of famine. They also face high prevalence of malnutrition (including in two localities where general acute malnutrition is approaching or above the famine threshold of 30 per cent). Protection risks are widespread in these areas, ranging from indiscriminate attacks, sexual violence, displacement and prolonged siege-like conditions, with particularly dire impacts for women and girls, people with disabilities and older persons among others. Meanwhile, life-saving services have crumbled, leaving many families without access to health care, safe water and other essential support.

Mass hunger has taken hold in large parts of the country, with 28.9 million people in need of food security and livelihood support this year. Famine has been confirmed in El Fasher and Kadugli, with similar conditions found in Dilling. A further 20 areas are at risk of famine across the Darfur and Kordofan regions. As food becomes increasingly scarce and out-of-reach, people are being forced to resort to desperate measures, including selling assets, skipping meals and other negative coping strategies. Women and girls are among those most impacted by hunger; female-headed households in Sudan are three times more likely to be food insecure. In the consultations for the 2026 HNRP, community members highlighted significant and overlapping food security challenges, including limited market access, significant food assistance and livelihoods needs, and high food prices.

“Sometimes we sleep without eating so our children can have the little food available. If we are not helped soon, severe malnutrition among children is inevitable."

Displaced mother in Tawila, North Darfur

Malnutrition is driving up the risk of child mortality in many areas in Sudan, with 8.4 million people requiring nutrition assistance in 2026, of which 4.2 million are acutely malnourished and 0.8 million have severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Assessments show that admissions for SAM, also known as severe wasting, surged in several parts of the country in 2025, including in Darfur where rates went up by 46 per cent and in North Kordofan where they went up by 70 per cent compared to 2024. SAM admissions also increased substantially in Khartoum and Aj Jazirah, likely due to mothers’ improved ability to reach nutrition services as security and access in these areas improved. This rise in malnutrition has greatly increased the risk of under-five child mortality, which is estimated to be 11 times higher for children with SAM and 4 times higher for those moderate acute malnutrition compared to their well-nourished peers. Through the community consultation process, affected people expressed widespread concern about limited access to nutrition services amidst rising cases of malnutrition, including due to high costs, lack of nutrition centers, insufficient supplies and long and unsafe journeys to reach facilities.

A child receives a mid-upper arm circumference test

South Kordofan, Sudan

A child is screened for malnutrition and receives treatment at a hospital in Kadugli.

UNICEF

In 2026, 22.4 million people need protection assistance, almost double the figure of last year (11.7 million). Among those most at-risk are women and girls, people with disabilities, children, older persons, internally displaced persons, refugees and ethnic minorities, who are exposed to a wide range of protection threats including exposure to violence and hostilities, ERW hazards, multiple and prolonged displacement, exploitation and exclusion. Gender-based violence (GBV) has reached extremely alarming proportions. As of August 2025, sexual assault accounted for 27 per cent of reported protection incidents in Sudan, while one-quarter (26 per cent) of women and girls report avoiding certain areas because they feel unsafe due to the security environment, presence of armed actors, displacement patterns, and restrictive social norms. Children face heightened and compounded protection risks due to family separation, disrupted care arrangements, psychosocial distress, recruitment, disruptions to schooling and limited access to protective services. As deprivation deepens, families are also being driven to harmful coping strategies; almost 30 per cent of households report children engaged in hazardous or harmful income-generating activities.

“We are trying to start over, but the wounds from the war go deep, especially in my children’s hearts. It’s not easy to heal from such pain.”

Displaced mother of nine in Kassala

The ongoing conflict is having a devastating impact on population health in Sudan, with an estimated 21 million people requiring health assistance in 2026. Years of progress have been reversed, most notably in immunization, where coverage has fallen back nearly four decades, leaving Sudan with the lowest global coverage of first dose diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP1). At the same time, communicable disease outbreaks are intensifying, with cholera spreading rapidly alongside increased transmission of malaria and dengue. As health needs escalate, access to essential health services remains a major challenge. A large proportion of health care facilities in conflict-affected areas are closed or only partially functional, while more than 30 per cent of households are unable to obtain needed medical care, mainly due to cost barriers or the unavailability of services and medicines. These challenges were consistently echoed in community consultations, where the most commonly reported barriers to care included lack of access to medicines, limited availability of services and inability to afford consultations and treatment. Gender-specific barriers to health care continue to impact women and girls, with almost 30 per cent of female-headed households indicating that they were not aware of available maternal and reproductive health services. Persons with disabilities also face particularly severe challenges in accessing health care, compounded by physical accessibility barriers and limited availability of inclusive services.

A girl fills barrels with clean water in a displacement site in Ad Dabbah

Northern, Sudan

A girl fills barrels with clean water in a displacement site in Ad Dabbah.

MedGlobal

Other essential services are overstretched and increasingly out-of-reach, with more than 27 million people who need water, sanitation and hygiene assistance in 2026. The collapse and destruction of water systems—especially in conflict areas, return areas and urban centers—has left communities exposed to unsafe water and heightened risk of outbreaks such as cholera, dengue and malaria. Existing services are under immense strain as water demand surges, particularly in areas hosting large numbers of internally displaced people. In parts of the Darfur and Kordofan regions, over 30 per cent of households report walking more than an hour to fetch water, while many rely on costly, untreated private vendors. Female-headed households are around 40 per cent more likely to face extreme water deprivation. Hygiene conditions are deteriorating sharply, with open defecation becoming a major concern as access to hygiene items is increasingly constrained by market shortages and affordability challenges. In the consultations, communities consistently cited lack of clean water and basic hygiene among their top challenges, compounded by collapsing infrastructure and soaring service costs.

“Water is far, work is uncertain, and harassment is always a risk, especially when you are alone with children.”

Displaced mother in Khartoum

The crisis has pushed Sudan’s education system to the brink, resulting in prolonged interruptions in schooling for millions of children and threatening the future of education nationwide. While schools have been gradually reopening in some areas allowing some students to return, nearly 60 per cent of school-aged children do not attend formal education. In total, 10.5 million people need education support in 2026. Access barriers are particularly severe in conflict-affected areas, where many schools have been damaged, destroyed or are being used for other purposes. Beyond learning loss, prolonged exclusion from education significantly heightens protection risks for children, including child labour, child marriage, forced recruitment, sexual violence and psychosocial harm. Among refugees, secondary displacement and severe overcrowding have sharply reduced access to education and exacerbated protection risks for refugee children. Key drivers of education disruption include conflict-related school closures, the use of schools as shelter, direct attacks on education infrastructure and challenges to the payment of teacher salaries. Community consultations underscored education as a significant priority for affected people, with poor quality education, high school fees, teacher and supply shortages, and limited access and coverage cited as the main challenges.

School children receiving essential learning materials to continue their education in Rijil Al Kubri school, Geneina, West

West Darfur, Sudan

School children receive essential learning materials to continue their education in Ag Geneina.

NRC

Sudan remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, with many internally displaced people having lost shelter, security and essential household assets during often forced and multiple displacements. Inter-agency analysis indicates 15.4 million people need shelter and non-food item assistance in 2026 while 4 million internally displaced people require site management support, particularly in camps, collective centers and informal settlements. In severely affected states like North and East Darfur, more than 10 per cent of internally displaced households live in totally collapsed or structurally unsafe shelters, while up to 42 per cent report overcrowding, inadequate privacy or poor ventilation, conditions that significantly increase health and protection risks, including GBV. Limited site planning, weak governance and lack of tenure security expose displaced families to eviction and secondary displacement; only 10 per cent of internally displaced households report having written agreements for their shelter arrangements. Community consultations consistently highlighted financial constraints, insecurity, unstable shelter conditions and fear of eviction as primary concerns.

The overview of humanitarian needs and risks has been developed based on in-depth inter-cluster and cluster-specific needs assessments conducted in 2025, including the Sudan Multisector Needs Assessment (MSNA), which encompassed more than 24,400 household interviews conducted in August in 187 localities across Sudan’s 18 states. This was complemented by an extensive community consultation process, which collected inputs, priorities and feedback from more than 3,400 community members across all 18 states to inform the 2026 HNRP. Detailed data (structured around the questions on “characteristics of needs” of the Joint and Inter-sectoral Analysis Framework (JIAF) 2.0) is available at the JIAF dashboard. Cluster methodologies and indicators used in the needs analysis are available here.

References

  1. IPC. Sudan: IPC Acute Food Insecurity Snapshot l September 2025 - May 2026 (3 November 2025) (link).
  2. IPC. Sudan: IPC Acute Food Insecurity Snapshot l September 2025 - May 2026 (3 November 2025) (link).
  3. Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group. Sudan: Women, Food Insecurity and Famine Risk in Sudan (21 July 2025) (link).
  4. UNICEF. Number of severely malnourished children doubles in North Darfur as nutrition crisis deepens across Sudan (10 July 2025) (link).
  5. Accountability to Affected People Working Group. Community Consultations for a Community-Driven HNRP 2026 (link).
  6. UNHCR. Protection Brief Sudan (August 2025) (link).
  7. Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group. Sudan: Key Gender Findings from the 2025 Sudan MSNA: Female-Headed Households (FHHs) (31 December 2025) (link).
  8. IOM. Multi-Sector Needs Assessment, August 2025 (23 October 2025) (link).
  9. UNICEF. Childhood immunization in Sudan sinks to its lowest in almost 40 years (15 July 2025) (link).
  10. IOM. Multi-Sector Needs Assessment, August 2025 (23 October 2025) (link).
  11. Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group. Sudan: Key Gender Findings from the 2025 Sudan MSNA: Female-Headed Households (FHHs) (31 December 2025) (link).
  12. Accountability to Affected People Working Group. Community Consultations for a Community-Driven HNRP 2026 (link).
  13. IOM. Multi-Sector Needs Assessment, August 2025 (23 October 2025) (link).
  14. Accountability to Affected People Working Group. Community Consultations for a Community-Driven HNRP 2026 (link).
  15. IOM. Multi-Sector Needs Assessment, August 2025 (23 October 2025) (link).
  16. IOM. Multi-Sector Needs Assessment, August 2025 (23 October 2025) (link).
  17. IOM. Multi-Sector Needs Assessment, August 2025 (23 October 2025) (link).
  18. Accountability to Affected People Working Group. Community Consultations for a Community-Driven HNRP 2026 (link).