Six months of conflict in Sudan leave millions of children at risk of cholera, dengue, measles, malaria & other diseases without sufficient containment capacities, said the UNICEF and WHO.
Altaghyeer: Agencies
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that further health system disruptions on Sudan will result in unacceptably high numbers of preventable death among children and vulnerable populations.
The UN agencies issued the following joint statement on the issue:
Since the outbreak of the conflict in Sudan on 15 April 2023, UNICEF, WHO and partners have been supporting the Federal Ministry of Health and state ministries of health in Sudan to maintain vital services across the country but are increasingly challenged by the limitations in safety and security, access and resourcing.
High numbers of deaths
The agencies warn that further health system disruptions will result in unacceptably high numbers of preventable deaths among children and vulnerable populations. Urgent action is needed now to preserve Sudan’s health systems, especially at community and primary health care levels.
Six months into the conflict, health workers have gone without pay for months, and health facilities are occupied, looted or destroyed. About 70% of hospitals in conflict-affected states are not functional. WHO has verified 58 attacks on health care to date, with 31 deaths and 38 injuries of health workers and patients.
On top of the active fighting ongoing in Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofans, the rainy season is further limiting access to vulnerable communities, while creating conducive space for the spread of water- and vector-borne diseases.
Families caught in fighting
Millions of families are caught in the middle of the fighting, and more than 5.8 million people, 2.5 million of them children, are newly displaced and on the move. With over 7.1 million people displaced internally – 4.5 million of them since the outbreak of conflict – Sudan now has the largest number of internally displaced people in the world. Lacking access to food, safe drinking water, a clean and healthy environment, health care and many basic services, the risk of death due to birth complications, reduced vaccination, disease outbreaks and malnutrition is rapidly rising.
The number of hungry families has almost doubled, 700 000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and 100 000 children require life-saving treatment for acute malnutrition with medical complications. The Federal Ministry of Health announced on 26 September an outbreak of cholera in Gedaref State, and later, on 7 October, in Khartoum and South Kordofan states. Suspected cases are also reported from Gezira State. Cholera is a highly contagious and deadly disease for vulnerable populations, including children, which has already killed 65 people, many of them children out of 1310 cases in the 4 states, and if not quickly contained will take many more lives.
Lethal risks
UNICEF and WHO are deeply concerned about cholera, measles, malaria and dengue spreading across the country, posing lethal risks to malnourished children. State health authorities have already reported 4296 suspected cases of measles and 108 deaths, 4307 suspected dengue cases and 16 deaths, and over 710 000 clinical malaria cases with 27 deaths.
