Over 10 million children in Sudan have been in an active war zone for the past year. 

A recent analysis by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) on behalf of Save the Children has revealed that 50 percent of children in Sudan are currently or have been within five kilometers of the frontlines of conflict within the last year. 

This staggering number represents a 60 percent increase since the first month of conflict which erupted in April 2023. 

The analysis shows that children in Sudan have been exposed to battles, bombings, Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks, mortar and missile attacks, and direct attacks on civilians. 

Aid organization, Save the Children called on international leaders to discuss the crisis in Sudan and focus on improving humanitarian access, protecting children, and staving off famine. 

Country Director for Save the Children in Sudan, Dr. Arif Noor said: 

These findings show how dangerously close to death and injury so many children in Sudan have been over the past year of war. Children in Sudan have suffered unimaginably - they have seen killings, massacres, bullet-littered streets, dead bodies and shelled homes while they live with the all-too-real fear that they themselves could be killed, injured, recruited to fight, or subject to sexual violence. 

UNICEF has warned that 50 percent of the total population is in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Sudan has one of the highest rates of child malnutrition, more than 3 million children are acutely malnourished.

Sudan also currently has the largest child displacement crisis in the world, with reportedly 3.5 million children fleeing violence in search of safety. 

Read the Save the Children analysis here.