Age International calls for action on Sudan crisis

After 1000 days of conflict in Sudan, Age International and 12 leading humanitarian charities are urging the UK Government to take decisive action to help end the suffering. 

Since the conflict began, 33.7 million people have become reliant on humanitarian assistance. Nearly 12 million have been driven from their homes and vital infrastructure has been destroyed, including 70% of hospitals. There are 2 million older people in Sudan, and many have been left without the healthcare and other essentials they need to survive. Older people in Sudan are facing severe psychosocial distress, with 44% of older people experiencing depression as a result of the displacement and social isolation.[1]

Humanitarian organisations are struggling to reach the communities most in need. Assistance is being deliberately restricted or denied, violating International Humanitarian Law. Famine has already taken hold in a number of areas, with older people dying of hunger[2] and agencies are unable to respond at the necessary speed or scale to prevent it from spreading. More funding is urgently needed to ensure humanitarians can reach all communities in need, including older people.

A coalition of 13 humanitarian charities (including Age International) have today launched a change.org petition. It calls on the UK Government to scale up efforts to secure a ceasefire and increase humanitarian funding. It also calls on the Government to support a regional response to the crisis, by working with neighbouring countries to enable cross-border access, support for refugees and to prevent the conflict spreading further.

The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began in April 2023 and has since escalated significantly. However, the current violence in Sudan is rooted in a complex political, social and economic history that includes being colonised by Egypt and Britain during the 19th century and decades of instability since independence in 1956.

As the UK leads on Sudan at the UN Security Council, it has a unique platform to keep the crisis high on the global agenda and push for stronger international leadership on humanitarian access, protection, and famine prevention. However, the UK’s response has been hampered by ministerial changes, aid budget cuts, departmental upheaval, and competing foreign policy priorities. With the conflict reaching 1000 days, action is urgently needed to bring an end to the fighting, enable humanitarian access and stop the spread of famine.

[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11926270/? 

[2] For example, a local humanitarian commission stated on October 18th, 2025 that at least 58 older people died of hunger in the besieged North Darfur city of El Fasher within two months after armed actors cut off food supplies.