Suggested lead: The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed up the price of oil, food - and fertilizer. The Strait is a key conduit for fertilizer products, and concern is growing that the next global crop harvest could be severely impacted. The United Nations has warned the poorest countries will suffer most - countries like Sudan that is already struggling with hunger, driven by more than three years of civil war.

Lower thirds:

0:03  Report by / Cynthia Cave
1:09  Dr. Jamal Eltaeb / Director of Al-Nao hospital

Script:

0:01
It's the most vulnerable who are being hit hardest by the growing hunger. Earlier this week, UNICEF warned children in Sudan's Darfur region are "at a breaking point", with an extreme hunger crisis, displacement and unrest.

0:16
Acute malnutrition has reached famine levels in some parts of Darfur. 

But the UN says global attention is elsewhere. And its food program is desperately underfunded.

33 million Sudanese are in need of humanitarian aid, half of them children.

0:35
Around 11 million have been displaced in the brutal conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces or RSF. The civil war has raged since April 2023, killing tens of thousands. Both sides are accused of atrocities.

0:55
Even hospitals have come under attack. Nearly 40% of Sudan's hospitals are no longer functioning. 

1:02
This one near the capital Khartoum was under rebel control for three years. Its director left with impossible choices:

1:09
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Jamal Eltaeb, director of Al-Nao hospital:
“Choosing, as if you can choose who is going to live and who is going to die, that’s difficult. It difficult decision for me and for any doctor."

1:20
As if that wasn't bad enough, the war in faraway Iran - and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz - stands to make things even worse. It has delayed food shipments and massively pushed up the cost of food aid. 

In addition, up to 30 percent of the world's trade in fertilizer passes through the Strait. That's pushed up the cost of fertilizer and led to a global shortage. 

1:45
That could have major implications for food crops and food security - leaving the most vulnerable at greater risk than ever.