UNICEF has strongly condemned the looting of vital humanitarian supplies from Al Bashair Hospital in Jabal Awlia, Khartoum. The stolen items included 2,200 cartons of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, essential for treating severely malnourished children. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell called the theft “outrageous and a direct attack on their survival.”
Impact on Children in Sudan
The looting has put over 2,000 children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition at immediate risk. Additionally, 6,000 pregnant and lactating women have lost access to iron and folic acid supplements. The thieves also took midwife kits and primary healthcare supplies meant for over 132,980 mothers, newborns, and children in an area with extremely limited healthcare access.
Geographical Hotspots
The attack occurred at one of the last functioning hospitals in Jabal Awlia, which is among 17 localities at risk of famine. The area has been cut off from commercial and humanitarian supplies for over three months due to ongoing fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, forcing more than 4,000 people to flee within Khartoum.
Efforts to Mitigate the Crisis
UNICEF had successfully delivered these supplies on December 20, 2024, marking the first humanitarian shipment to reach Jabal Awlia in over 18 months. However, the looting and escalating violence have forced aid operations to suspend, pushing the region’s most vulnerable even closer to catastrophe.
International Call to Action
UNICEF is urgently calling for unimpeded humanitarian access, protection of hospitals and civilian infrastructure in line with international humanitarian law, and security guarantees for frontline workers delivering life-saving aid. More than 24.6 million people—over half of Sudan’s population—are facing acute food insecurity in what has become an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.