Sudan regularly suffers prolonged food shortages and, weakened by malnutrition, many people have no strength to fight disease. Around one in ten Sudanese children die before their fifth birthday and more than 100,000 people each year die from malaria, acute respiratory infections and diarrhoea.
Islamic Relief in Sudan
Sudan is the first country that Islamic Relief worked in, responding to a famine in 1984. Since then, Islamic Relief has expanded significantly.
Following the Jan 2011 referendum, South Sudan became an independent country on 9 July 2011. However, new conflicts flared up in Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile which border South. This new conflict displaced thousands of people, halted recovery programmes and created escalating tension between the two countries.
Due to inflation and increased food prices, the rural and urban poor have faced difficult living conditions. On average food prices have increased by 20% in 2011 putting strain on the urban and rural poor which form the majority of the population. Sudan has lost 75% of the oil revenue after South Sudan seceded in July 2011. Unprecedented increase of living costs and price of essential food items and construction materials have followed.