By the end of the year, the war-torn nation is certain to lose thousands of newborns.
Between mid-May and September, a suspected measles outbreak and acute malnutrition killed more than 1,200 children under the age of five in refugee camps in the war-torn Sudan, according to the United Nations and the World Health Organisation.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and WHO stated in a joint statement on Tuesday that the deaths happened in the White Nile state of Sudan. They reiterated their concern over the “worsening” health situation in the African nation as a result of fighting between rival army units since April.
The UNHCR teams note that over 3,100 suspected instances of measles, severe malnutrition, as well as more than 500 suspected cases of cholera, have been documented in different regions of the nation.
The organisations added that continuous assaults on hospitals and medical teams have compounded service delivery issues, aggravating disease outbreaks and mortality. Health facilities are overburdened due to a lack of staff, life-saving medications, and essential equipment, the organisations claimed.
“…dozens of children are dying every day as a result of this horrific conflict and the lack of attention it is receiving worldwide. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi stated, “We can stop additional deaths, but we need funding for the response, access to people in need, and most importantly, an end to the violence.
According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, local health workers are working tirelessly under “very difficult conditions” to stop new fatalities and the spread of outbreaks with support from the WHO and its partners.
To stop more deaths and the spread of outbreaks, they urgently require the assistance of the global community. We urge donors to be kind and the combatants to preserve health workers and everyone’s access to healthcare, Tedros said.
The Armed war Location and Event Data Project estimates that more than 7,000 people have died as a result of the war that broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15.
Last month, the relief organisation Save the Children claimed that food shortages and the closure of feeding centres due to conflict had resulted in the deaths of at least 498 children in the country of North Africa, including two dozen infants at a state orphanage.
By the end of the year, according to UNICEF spokesman James Elder, thousands more infants will die in the war-torn nation. Elder was speaking to reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
AFP cited Elder as stating, “Every month, 55,000 children need treatment for the most deadly form of malnutrition, but in Khartoum, less than one in 50 nutrition centres is operational.”
