Hungry civilians are reportedly eating animal feed as women and girls face a "gender emergency" in war-torn Sudan, UN officials said on Thursday.
Particularly hard hit is El Fasher, where hunger is growing, with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA ) warning of a deteriorating situation that is putting even more civilians' lives at risk.
OCHA's Director of Operations and Advocacy, Edem Wosornu, who is currently in the country, said the suffering is immense, with people trapped, displaced or returning to face communities in ruins. She called for unimpeded access and urgent support to reach those on the frontlines of hardship.
Briefing reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said "with increasingly alarming food shortages and spiraling prices, people in El Fasher are reported to be resorting to eating animal feed in what is an increasingly catastrophic situation."
Thousands face starvation, cholera threat
El Fasher has the highest cost of basic goods nationwide at nearly $1,000 per household per month, which is far beyond the reach of most families. This includes more than $700 for food alone - more than eight times the cost of basic food items in other parts of the country, Mr. Haq said.
"These steep costs, coupled with the siege and lack of aid delivery by road for over a year, have left thousands facing starvation," he added, noting that engagement around the calls from the Secretary-General and the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator for a pause in the area is "more important than ever.
In an effort to curb public health risks in North Darfur, UN humanitarian partners and local authorities launched a sanitation campaign on 5 August targeting 11,000 people in the localities of El Fasher and Dar As Salam with a goal of preventing disease outbreaks in overcrowded displacement sites during the ongoing rainy season.
They are also scaling up efforts to respond to a cholera outbreak in the locality of Tawila, which has absorbed 330,000 displaced people fleeing conflict in Zamzam and El Fasher since April.
In Blue Nile State, cholera cases have surged to nearly 2,800 since late June, with over 40 new infections recorded yesterday alone, with 14 deaths have been reported, the UN Deputy Spokesperson said.
'Gender emergency'
Warnings also came from gender equality agency, UN Women .
"This crisis is a gender emergency," said Salvator Nkurunziza, the agency's representative in Sudan, told UN News.
"Displaced women and girls can be subject to the risks of exploitation and abuse, especially during the delivery of aid, where protection mechanisms are weak or absent in some locations," he said.
According to the agency's Unit for Combating Violence Against Women in Sudan, as of March 2025, there have been 1,138 cases of rape recorded since April 2023, including 193 children, most of whom were in conflict-affected areas, he said.
"The actual number may be higher as fear of stigma and other social and security reasons prevent accurate reporting of gender-based violence crimes," he warned.
Women, girls 'most affected' by food insecurity
"Certainly, these crimes including rape and harassment can prevent women and girls from access food assistance," he said.
Unreported gender-based violence crimes in besieged areas can be higher than shown in recent statistics, he continued, emphasising that women and girls are the most affected by food insecurity in those areas, and the situations there indicate a looming hunger crisis.
"Women are central to the survival of their households, especially in displacement settings, but their ability to access food assistance is deeply compromised," Mr. Nkurunziza said. "Female-headed households, already three times more likely to be food insecure, are now the hungriest group in the country."
