GENEVA

The UN refugee and food agencies issued a stark warning Tuesday about escalating malnutrition and hunger among millions of Sudanese refugees, as funding shortfalls severely hamper life-saving assistance across the region.

"Sudan is now among the countries in the world with the highest prevalence of global acute malnutrition," said Babar Baloch, spokesperson for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, citing alarming levels among new arrivals in Chad and Uganda.

In Chad's Tine region, 11.2% of children aged 6–59 months are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and 30.5% from moderate acute malnutrition, while 10.5% of pregnant and breastfeeding women are also affected.

"This is not just a nutrition crisis -- it also bears grave protection concerns for millions of people who have fled Sudan, now the world’s largest and worst protection crisis," Baloch said.

He warned that the lack of access to adequate nutrition may push families into harmful coping strategies, including early marriage, school dropouts, and child exploitation.

UNHCR's operations are also reeling from cuts.

"We have been forced to deprioritize nutrition surveys… due to lack of funding as well as staff," the spokesperson added. The 2025 Regional Refugee Response Plan has received only 15% of the required fund, he added.

Shaun Hughes, the emergency coordinator for the World Food Program (WFP), said: "Severe funding shortfalls mean that WFP will be unable to sustain food assistance at current levels."

WFP has provided food and cash assistance to Sudanese refugees across seven neighboring countries since April 2023, but operations in countries like Egypt, Ethiopia, and Libya could halt entirely in the coming months without urgent contributions.

"Just over $200 million is needed to sustain support for refugees… and $575 million is required for life-saving operations inside Sudan," Hughes said, stressing that only political action can end the crisis.