Sudan: Two Years of Conflict, Millions in Crisis – and a Lifeline Still Holding

As Sudan marks two years since the outbreak of conflict in April 2023, the scale of the humanitarian emergency is almost incomprehensible. Over 25 million people, more than half the population, require humanitarian assistance. Nearly 11 million have been displaced, making Sudan home to the world’s largest displacement crisis. Yet the crisis remains alarmingly underfunded and underacknowledged.

Across the country, entire communities have been uprooted, health systems have collapsed, markets have vanished, and once functioning public infrastructure lies in ruin. For millions of Sudanese families, survival hinges not only on resilience, but on aid.

Muslim Aid: Delivering Life-Saving Assistance, Restoring Dignity

Since the conflict erupted in April 2023, Muslim Aid has remained one of the few INGOs consistently delivering humanitarian aid inside Sudan. In that first year, despite looting, displacement, and operational shutdowns, our teams reached over 31,000 people with clean water, nutrition services, hygiene kits, and seasonal food assistance across Khartoum, Al Jazeera, Kassala, and Gedaref states.

In 2024, we scaled up rapidly reaching 55,500 people through expanded nutrition programming, WASH services across 17 IDP camps, and large scale seasonal distributions. These results were made possible through sustained partnerships with WFP, IOM, and local authorities, as well as flexible field operations that adapted as access shrank and frontlines shifted.

In early 2025, so far, our WFP supported nutrition teams have screened 14,691 children under five and pregnant and lactating women, referring 3,245 MAM and 576 SAM cases for treatment across 63 fixed sites and two mobile units. We also delivered 517 behaviour change sessions to 6,570 caregivers and launched 30 peer-led support groups. RUSF was distributed where stocks allowed, but pipeline breaks continue to disrupt coverage.

Across three years, Muslim Aid has reached over 101,000 individuals with critical, life-sustaining assistance. We’ve done this under fire, literally and figuratively, adapting through mobile teams, community networks, and deep rooted trust in the areas we serve. As Sudan's crisis accelerates, our commitment holds. What we need now is the sustained support to match it.

Impact That Goes Beyond the Numbers

Behind each data point is a person, and behind each intervention is a life changed.

Ahmed, a malnourished child from Khartoum, was referred to a Muslim Aid-run TSFP site after arriving in Al Jazeera. After several weeks of therapeutic feeding and monitoring, he recovered fully. His mother, Hawa, shared: “We thank Muslim Aid and WFP for saving our child’s life.”

Mariam, a 49 year old widow in Kassala, saw her small business collapse when war disrupted markets and electricity. After receiving a Ramadan food basket, she was finally able to cook nutritious meals for her children and elderly mother. “Alhamdulillah,” she said. “This food kept my family going.”

These are just two of thousands of cases across Sudan, where even a small intervention can mean the difference between survival and despair.

Beyond Emergency Relief: Laying the Groundwork for Recovery

While Muslim Aid’s immediate focus remains on urgent needs- food, health, and safe water, our approach also lays the foundations for recovery.

• Community-based programming: From training local health workers to forming nutrition committees, we are embedding capacity within the communities we serve.
• Integrated response models: By combining food assistance with WASH, protection, and community engagement, we are reducing overlap, enhancing efficiency, and building trust.
• Systems support: Working closely with state Ministries of Health, we’re helping restore functionality to nutrition centres and reviving services in areas slowly emerging from conflict.

A Call to Action: This Is No Time to Look Away

As global actors gather in London this week to confront the crisis in Sudan, we face a narrowing window to prevent further collapse. The recent suspension of US humanitarian aid has deepened an already critical funding gap, just as displacement, hunger, and disease surge across the country.

Muslim Aid is on the ground. Our teams are present, operational, and trusted. We’re reaching displaced families with nutrition, clean water, protection, and shelter, even in some of the most difficult to access areas. But to sustain and scale this work, we urgently need renewed support.

We call on:

• Institutional donors to increase and fast-track flexible, multi-sector funding for frontline actors, ensuring we can adapt in real time to shifting needs;
• Policymakers and governments to prioritise Sudan on global humanitarian and diplomatic agendas, and work to preserve humanitarian access;
• INGO and sector partners to champion fair, locally led funding models and ensure crisis-affected populations remain at the centre of our collective response;
• Individual supporters and diaspora communities to continue standing with the people of Sudan - by giving, raising awareness, and advocating for action through their networks and elected officials.

Two years into Sudan’s conflict, the need is urgent, but the opportunity to make a difference remains. Fund. Advocate. Share. Act. Sudan cannot wait.