Sudan's heartbreaking tragedy; 1,200 children died in camps since May
This comes as the UN issued a grave warning, expressing deep concern about the deteriorating healthcare conditions for children in Sudan due to the ongoing crisis.
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Sudanese refugee Assaniah Ahmad Hussein teaches an outdoor class at the Kouchaguine-Moura refugee camp in Chad. (UNHCR)
The UN issued a warning, on Tuesday, expressing grave concern about the deteriorating health conditions for children in Sudan due to the ongoing crisis. Since May, more than 1,200 children have tragically lost their lives in refugee camps, and it is feared that thousands of newborns may also die in the war-ravaged country by the end of the year.
"On the back of a cruel disregard for civilians and the relentless attacks on health and nutrition services, UNICEF fears many thousands of newborns will die between now and the end of the year," UN Children's Agency Spokesperson James Elder told journalists in Geneva.
He highlighted that approximately 333,000 babies are expected to be born in Sudan between October and December. Simultaneously, he noted that the provision of nutrition services in the conflict-affected nation has been severely impacted or severely undermined.
"Every month 55,000 children require treatment for the most lethal form of malnutrition, and yet in Khartoum less than one in 50 nutrition centers is functional. In West Darfur it's one in 10," Elder said.
The UN refugee agency reported that between May 15 and September 14, in Sudan's White Nile state, over 1,200 children under the age of five tragically lost their lives in nine refugee camps. These camps primarily accommodated refugees from South Sudan and Ethiopia, as disclosed by Allen Maina, the UNHCR's chief of public health, during a press briefing in Geneva.
Additionally, during this same time frame, there were approximately 3,100 suspected cases of measles in the same region, and other parts of the country reported over 500 suspected cases of cholera, along with outbreaks of dengue and malaria, according to the agency's information.
"The world has the means and the money to prevent every one of these deaths from measles or malnutrition," UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said in a statement.
"We can prevent more deaths, but need money for the response, access to those in need, and above all, an end to the fighting," he added.
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