Families resorting to desperate measures with no end in sight to famine conditions in Sudan's Zamzam camp

PORT SUDAN, 02 Dec 2024 –Families living in Sudan’s Zamzam refugee camp are resorting to desperate measure like eating one meal a day and some as far as eating animal feed to survive after four months of famine has children facing extreme food shortages with 19 months of fighting taking toll on besieged North Darfur region, Save the Children said.

Sorghum and millet are the most preferred meal in the camp housing 500,000 people and across the region, but due to high prices families are forced to eat an animal feed called ambaz, the leftovers from beans and sesame after oil extraction.

Severe water shortages are also hitting families hard across Zamzam with many forced to survive on less than two litres of water a day against a daily requirement of 20 litres per person. Save the Children is delivering 20,000 litres of water by truck to six gathering points every day, serving over 12,500 people, which works out at an average of 2 litres per person and way below the daily requirement.

The depletion of stocks of drugs and therapeutic foods is driving extremely high levels of malnutrition in the camp. One of our staff members working in Zamzam said he can see children walking in the camp with visible signs of severe acute malnutrition including wasting, thinning hair, swollen arms, change of skin colour and clear evidence of widespread diarrhoea.

In addition, the risk of disease outbreaks is increasing by the day as the overcrowding in the camp and deteriorating hygiene levels put many families and children at risk.

“One school in the camp is accommodating over 700 families leading to overcrowding and creating a fertile ground for the spread of communicable diseases.  Additionally, hundreds of families are sharing a single toilet, creating a hygiene nightmare. The situation is similar in other locations where schools have been converted to shelters,” said Jamal*, one of Save the Children’s child protection officer working in Zamzam.

Since the conflict started in April 2023, aid agencies have been unable to get supplies to the Darfur region with hunger levels surging. In the past week, the first cargo flight by Save the Children carrying critical drugs and medical supplies arrived in Blue Nile state while World Food Programme’s food aid trucks made it to Zamzam camp, but more is needed to save lives amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Mohamed Abdiladif, Interim Country Director for Save the Children in Sudan, said:

“Until yesterday, Zamzam camp was the safest place in North Darfur for families and children. However, shelling and bombing has been ongoing for the second day now and there are reports of casualties including children.

“The suffering endured by people in this camp is beyond comprehension. Save the Children is calling on parties to the conflict to protect civilians and humanitarian aid workers, to facilitate unimpeded humanitarian access and to uphold the international humanitarian law. We also call the regional and international community to increase the diplomatic pressure and to facilitate a cease fire and to end this conflict as soon as we can.”

Save the Children is calling on all parties to conflict to protect civilian areas such as displacement shelters, including Zamzam camp, and immediately halt fighting around El Fasher and Zamzam camp that put civilians at risk. The aid agency is also calling on the warring parties to protect humanitarian workers and assets and remove all obstacles to the sustained, timely, effective and principled delivery of humanitarian assistance to all that urgently need it, including through both cross-border and crossline entry points. This includes the opening of safe passage for food, medical aid, and medical, humanitarian and commercial supplies, particularly in Zamzam.

Save the Children is delivering 20,000 litres of water daily by truck to six gathering points serving just over 12,500 people, half of them children. We are also providing mobile health clinics complementing efforts of the two health facilities providing medical services in the camp. We are providing cash donations to families to meet their basic human needs.

Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 and is currently supporting children and their families across Sudan providing health, nutrition, education, child protection and food security and livelihoods support. Save the Children is also supporting refugees from Sudan in Egypt and South Sudan. 

ENDS