“The scale of the emergency is shocking, as is the insufficient action being taken to stem the conflict,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Speaking to reporters from the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, Dr Tedros said the conflict had so far killed more than 20,000 people (although the toll is likely to be higher) and sparked the world's largest internal displacement crisis, displacing more than 10 million people within the country and forcing another two million to flee to neighbouring countries.
'The crisis falls on deaf ears'
Since April 2023, Sudan has been embroiled in a deadly conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
After 500 days of fighting, in addition to the rising death toll and internally displaced people, catastrophic seasonal flooding has further damaged vital infrastructure, outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and malaria are increasing, numerous cases of conflict-related sexual violence have been reported, and famine is occurring in parts of the country.
Concluding his two-day visit, Dr Tedros said that “25.6 million people – more than half of Sudan’s population – are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity.” He also noted that 70 to 80 percent of the country’s health facilities are not operating at full capacity.
Despite these alarming statistics and the WHO sounding the alarm since the conflict began while working with partners to address some of the challenges, “the international community has seemingly forgotten about Sudan and paid little attention to the conflict that is tearing it apart and having repercussions across the region,” said Dr Tedros.
“The best medicine is peace”
“The conflict has left some 25 million people… in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Of these, 14.7 million require urgent assistance for a range of life-saving needs, for which the humanitarian sector has appealed for $2.7 billion, of which less than half is funded.”
He called for a series of actions that could save millions of lives: protection of health facilities, health workers and patients (health should not be a goal); sustained access to deliver supplies and aid; expanded disease surveillance and vaccination coverage; and “a massive increase in finances from the international community to scale up the response.”
“We call on the world to wake up and help Sudan to emerge from the nightmare it is living,” the UN health chief said, adding that an immediate ceasefire was needed to lead to a lasting political solution.
“The best medicine is peace,” he added.
