United Nations (U.N.) agencies have reported that over 1,200 children in Sudan refugee camps have tragically lost their lives due to suspected cases of measles and malnutrition as thousands, including newborns, remain at risk of perishing before the end of the year.
After nearly six months of conflict between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces, the country’s healthcare sector is in a state of collapse.
This is attributed to direct attacks by the warring parties and severe shortages of both medical personnel and essential medicines, according to reports.
Dr. Allen Maina, the Chief of Public Health at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), shared during a UN briefing in Geneva that over 1,200 children below the age of five have lost their lives in the White Nile state since May.
“Unfortunately we fear numbers will continue rising,” he said.
UNICEF expressed deep concern that “many thousands of newborns” among the 333,000 babies expected before the end of the year are at risk of not surviving.
“They and their mothers need skilled delivery care. However in a country where millions are either trapped in war zones or displaced, and where there are grave shortages of medical supplies, such care is becoming less likely by the day,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told the same briefing.
Every month, approximately 55,000 children in Sudan need treatment for severe malnutrition. However, the situation is dire as fewer than one in 50 nutrition centres are operational in the capital, Khartoum, and only one in ten are functional in West Darfur, according to UN data.
