As the humanitarian crisis worsens in Sudan, U.N. officials are urging the Sudanese military and rival Rapid Support Forces to immediately allow aid deliveries to save nearly 5 million people from “catastrophic” hunger in the coming months. Nearly 18 million people are already facing acute food insecurity after nearly one year of war. Fighting has devastated agricultural production, disrupted trade and has blocked most access to humanitarian aid. UNICEF warns hundreds of thousands of Sudanese children are suffering from severe malnutrition.

Jill Lawler: “The numbers of acutely malnourished children are rising, and the lean season hasn’t even begun. Nearly 3.7 million children are projected to be acutely malnourished this year in Sudan, including 730,000 who need lifesaving treatment. The needs for children in Khartoum alone are massive. But this is also true in Darfur, where I was last month on a cross-border mission through Chad. The scale and magnitude of needs for children across the country are simply staggering. Sudan is now the world’s largest displacement crisis. And some of the most vulnerable children are in the hardest-to-reach places.”

That was Jill Lawler, chief of field operations and emergency for UNICEF in Sudan.