World Health Organisation WHO and United Nations Children International Fund UNICEF have warned that further health system disruptions will result in unacceptably high numbers of preventable deaths in children and vulnerable populations.
According to the Agencies on Wednesday stated that the 6 months of conflict in Sudan has left millions of children at risk of cholera, dengue, measles, malaria and other diseases without sufficient containment capacities.
Since the outbreak of the conflict in Sudan on 15 April 2023, UNICEF, WHO and partners have maintained vital services across the country but are increasingly challenged by the limitations in safety and security, access and resourcing.
The Agencies called for urgent action is needed now to preserve Sudan’s health systems, at community and primary health care levels, saying six months into the conflict, health workers have gone without pay for months, and health facilities are occupied, looted or destroyed.
It was reported that about 70% of hospitals in conflict-affected states are not functional while WHO 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.
“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. 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.
UNICEF and WHO expressed deep concern 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.
Limited access to affected localities and difficulties with transporting samples to the only functional public health laboratory in Port Sudan, upgraded to provide a national referencing service through WHO support, are proving a challenge to confirming these outbreaks.
WHO, UNICEF said in collaboration with health partners, they are working to ensure primary health care, life-saving medical supplies and nourishment are accessible to displaced people and other vulnerable populations.
Also supporting health authorities’ response to the cholera outbreak. However, current resources can only help reach a fraction of those in need of critical services while data indicate that at least 10 000 children under 5 years of age may die by the end of 2023 due to the increase in food insecurity.