UN warns of worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan amid lack of safe access

Sudan is facing a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis marked by surging food prices, water shortages, and deadly disease outbreaks, the UN's top humanitarian official in the country warned Friday.

"The roads are in such poor condition… the only trucks we crossed were the World Food Program and UNICEF trucks, because commercial trucks, there's very few of them, so supplies are very limited in the market," Denise Brown, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, told reporters during a briefing.

"Food prices are skyrocketing. Access to clean water is limited. Sanitation is incredibly poor, and that's why we have the epidemic of cholera and dengue fever."

"The number of people in need is massive," she said.

Over 120 humanitarian aid workers have been killed in Sudan since the start of the war, according to Brown.

Since April 2023, clashes between Sudanese army forces and the RSF have killed more than 20,000 people and displaced 15 million, according to the UN and authorities, while a study by American universities estimates the death toll at approximately 130,000.