WHO: Death Toll Rises To Over 400 in Sudan Conflict
Guwahati: As many as 413 people were killed in the Sudan conflict, according to the World Health Organization(WHO), while the UN children’s agency has stated that children are paying a high price, with at least nine reportedly killed in the fighting so far and more than 50 badly injured, according to Turkish news agency Anadolu.
WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said during a UN news conference that 413 people have died and 3,551 have been injured as a result of the war so far, according to statistics from the Sudanese government. Conflicts between the army of the African country and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are the cause of the current warfare.
There have been 11 verified attacks on health facilities so far including 10 since April 15, said Margaret Harris.
She said, “According to the Ministry of Health in Sudan, the number of health facilities that have stopped working is 20. And also, according to Ministry of Health numbers, the number of health facilities at risk of stopping is 12.”
“So this means that all those people who need care, and this is not only the people who’ve been injured hearings, terrible fighting, but that the people who were needing treatment before and continuing treatment,” are impacted, added Harris, Anadolu reported.
Meanwhile, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder in the same press conference said, “Clearly, as ever, the fighting takes a devastating toll on children.”
“We now have reports of at least nine children killed and at least 50 injured. Those numbers will continue to rise as long as fighting continues,” he added.
He claims that many people are stuck and without access to energy, according to Anadolu.
Elder said, “They’re terrified of running out of food, water, and medicines,” adding, “One of our grave concerns is around hospitals that have come under fire.”
He further said that “Sudan already had one of the world’s highest malnutrition rates among children. “
According to Elder, the rate of childhood malnutrition in Sudan is already among the highest in the world.
“And we’ve now got a situation where critical life-saving support for around 50,000 children is at risk,” mentioned the UNICEF spokesperson.
Elder stated that the violence also jeopardises “the cold chain” in Sudan which includes over USD 40 million worth of vaccines and insulin as a result of power outages and the inability to refuel generators.
According to Anadolu, quoting UNICEF, children are seeking refuge in schools and daycare facilities while combat rages all around them, and children’s hospitals are being forced to evacuate as shelling gets closer.
According to Elder, the country’s children had great humanitarian needs before the conflict increased, with an estimated three-quarters of them living in abject poverty.
Similarly, over 6,00,000 children suffered from severe acute malnutrition, 7 million children were not enrolled in school and 11.5 million children and community members need emergency water and sanitation services.
It should be recalled that combat broke out last Saturday between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary RSF in the city of Khartoum and its neighbouring areas, according to Anadolu.
The military overthrew Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government in October 2021 and imposed a state of emergency in what the political forces referred to as a “coup,” leaving Sudan, once the largest country in Africa by landmass without a functioning government.