UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) warn that more attacks and disruptions to health and nutrition services in Sudan could lead to the loss of the lives of more than 10,000 children by the end of 2023.
Millions of families remain trapped in conflict areas, and over 5.8 million people, including 2.5 million children, have recently been displaced. With more than 7.1 million internally displaced persons – 4.5 million of them since the start of the conflict – Sudan now has the largest number of internally displaced people in the world.
“Despite insufficient data for verification, projections based on the Johns Hopkins University’s Lifesaving Tool indicate that at least 10,000 children under the age of five may die by the end of 2023 due to increased food insecurity and the disruption of essential services since the onset of the conflict in Sudan – more than 20 times the official count of children of all ages killed in the fighting,” UNICEF and WHO said.
They stated that “almost doubled is the number of families suffering from hunger, with 700,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and 100,000 children in need of life-saving treatment due to medical complications from severe acute malnutrition.”
The two agencies warn that further disruptions in the health system will lead to unacceptably high numbers of preventable deaths among children and vulnerable populations.
Urgent measures are needed now to maintain the health systems in Sudan, especially at the community and primary healthcare levels.