The UN announced on Tuesday that more than 1,200 children died of measles and malnutrition in nine refugee camps in Sudan between May 15 and September 14. The victims come from Ethiopia and South Sudan.
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A damning assessment. More than 1,200 children under the age of 5 have died of measles and malnutrition in nine refugee camps in Sudan since May and tens of thousands more could die by the end of the year, a indicated the UN, Tuesday September 19.
“Due to the incessant attacks on health and nutrition services” in Sudan, Unicef fears in particular “that several thousand newborns will die by the end of the year,” she said. underlined during a press briefing in Geneva. According to the UN agency, nutrition services are “devastated” in the country, where a bloody conflict between rival generals broke out in April.
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“Every month, 55,000 children must be treated for the deadliest form of malnutrition. Yet in Khartoum, fewer than one in 50 nutrition centers are functioning, and in West Darfur, it is one in 10,” he said. a UNICEF spokesperson, James Elder, told journalists.
According to teams from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), more than 1,200 children under the age of 5 have died of measles and malnutrition in nine refugee camps located in White Nile State between May 15 and September 14. These children are refugees from Ethiopia and South Sudan, said Dr. Allen Maina, head of Public Health for UNHCR, during the press briefing.
More than 3,100 suspected cases of measles
According to the UNHCR, more than 3,100 suspected cases of measles were also reported during the same period and more than 500 suspected cases of cholera in other parts of the country, as well as outbreaks of dengue and malaria.
“The world has the means and the money to prevent each of these deaths linked to measles or malnutrition,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, in a press release. “And yet dozens of children are dying every day as a result of this devastating conflict and a lack of attention from the international community. We can prevent more deaths, but we need money ( …), access to those who need it and, above all, an end to the fighting,” he asked.
UNICEF is also short of funds. The organization has received less than a quarter of the $838 million it had requested to help nearly 10 million children in Sudan, its spokesperson said in Geneva. “Such a lack of funds will result in lives lost,” he warned.
With AFP
Source: France 24
