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The UN has recorded “unprecedented” levels of hunger in Sudan after a survey in a North Darfur locality revealed over half of children under 5 years old are suffering from acute malnourishment, with many on the brink of death.

A UNICEF nutrition survey released this week found that 53 percent of children under 5 in North Darfur’s Umm Baru locality are acutely malnourished.

Further, one in six children under 5 are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, “a life-threatening condition that can kill a child in weeks if left untreated,” the group noted.

It is one of the worst levels of hunger ever recorded in a UN emergency hunger assessment, at more than three times the World Health Organization’s emergency threshold of 15 percent.

“When severe acute malnutrition reaches this level, time becomes the most critical factor,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell in a statement. “Children in Umm Baru are fighting for their........

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