LONDON/GENEVA 18 March 2026 – The conflict in the Middle East and wider region is obstructing key delivery routes for humanitarian supplies, delaying lifesaving medical shipments for at least 410,000 children in three countries, said Save the Children, warning the global impact will only grow [1].
The escalating conflict is having dire ripple effects on global aid supplies due to disruptions to key air, sea and land routes, with shipping costs expected to skyrocket about 10 to 50% to reroute aid in some cases.
As a result, Save the Children's lifesaving aid intended for children and their families in Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan is currently stuck in the Middle East.
One shipment of medical supplies bound for Sudan is currently stuck in Dubai due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global waterway for shipping. The delay puts more than 90 primary health care facilities across Sudan at risk of running out of essential medicines.
The medical supplies, intended to support over 400,000 children in Sudan, include antibiotics, antimalarials, deworming treatments, pain and fever medicines, as well as vitamins and key injectable and pediatric formulations used in routine and emergency treatment.
Further, rising fuel prices will push up the already-staggering inflation rates across Sudan. As transport and import costs increase, so too will the price of food, commodities and cost of doing business. This will not only add burden to delivering humanitarian assistance but also deepen the hardship faced by millions in Sudan struggling to meet their basic needs.
Save the Children is exploring alternative routes to deliver the supplies to Sudan, including transporting the supplies by road across Jeddah where we will then use sea freight to get it to Port Sudan, which could add US$1,000–$2,000 per container in costs.
Conflict-related disruptions have also driven up the cost of delivering critical nutrition supplies to Afghanistan. The nutrition supplies, intended to support 5,000 children and 1,400 pregnant and breastfeeding women, would have been shipped from India via Iran but now have to arrive by air at a cost of over US$240,000 - more than the value of the supplies. Without the supplies, nutrition programmes risk running out of stock and closing, leaving children facing acute hunger and malnutrition without treatment.
Additionally, a Save the Children shipment of medicine including antibiotics such as penicillin and amoxicillin headed for Yemen is also stuck in Dubai and, for the first time ever, Save the Children will transport these supplies via road, doubling the transport cost.
The medicines are expected to benefit about 5,000 children across 10 health facilities. Without these supplies, families and children may stop seeking health care in the health facilities due to medicine shortages, particularly impacting children suffering from malnutrition, whose conditions could worsen without timely treatment, the aid agency said.
Further disruptions to supply chains could have major implications for the entry of essential goods into a country heavily dependent on imports of food, fuel and medicines, pushing prices even higher and exacerbating humanitarian needs.
Willem Zuidema, Save the Children’s Global Supply Chain Director, said:
“The escalating conflict is having grave ripple effects for children far beyond the region. Lifesaving aid is being delayed around the world, costs are soaring as a result of the fuel price increases at a time when governments are cutting vital foreign aid budgets, and families in some of the world’s most fragile places risk losing the support they depend on.
“Medical aid is highly dependent on international transport. The blockage in the Strait of Hormuz combined with spiking cost for insurance and fuel are directly impacting patients in our health facilities, in the worst time possible.
“All parties to the conflict must facilitate the safe passage of humanitarian assistance to children. There should be no barriers to life-saving supplies: exemptions should be put in place to allow humanitarian supplies, fertiliser, and food to be able to move through the Strait of Hormuz. With global humanitarian needs already at record levels, further escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and wider region will have grave ramifications for crises across the world.”
Save the Children is urgently calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities. All parties to the conflict must adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law, including by facilitating the unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief to civilians in need.
Save the Children is the world’s largest independent child rights organisation, reaching tens of millions of children annually in about 110 countries through its work to save and improve children’s lives.
ENDS
Note to Editors
[1] Save the Children’s medical supplies stuck in the Middle East include medicine intended to support over 400,000 children in Sudan, 5000 children in Yemen and 5000 children in Afghanistan. This adds up to 410, 000 children.
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