Sudan's health system collapsing with 20-30% of facilities functional: UN

GENEVA

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday warned that Sudan's health system is collapsing with only 20-30% of facilities functioning at "minimal levels."

The situation is especially dire in the hard-to-reach areas with health facilities destroyed, looted, or struggling with acute shortages of staff, medicines, vaccines, equipment, and supplies, spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told a UN press briefing in Geneva.

"Only 30%-20% of health facilities remain functional, and even so at minimal levels," Lindmeier said.

"Medical supplies in the country are meeting only 25% of the needs," he added.

He noted that WHO's warehouse in Al Gezirah state has been inaccessible since last December, and some states, including Darfur, have not received medical supplies for the past year.

People suffering from diabetes, hypertension, cancer or kidney failure "may experience complications or die from to the lack of treatment," he warned.

According to the spokesperson, disease outbreaks are increasing with over 1.3 million cases of malaria, 11,000 cases of cholera, over 4,600 cases of measles, and some 8,500 cases of dengue.

Outbreaks of malaria, measles, dengue fever, and hepatitis E are also spreading in neighboring Chad, he added.

Regarding the efforts of the UN agency, Lindmeier said that WHO has reached close to 2.5 million people through direct support to services and delivery of emergency supplies.

Meanwhile, around 50,000 people received care in mobile clinics, and 433,000 Sudanese refugees were treated in mobile clinics in eastern Chad.

Also, it has delivered vital medical supplies through cross-border operations from Chad and South Sudan, including trauma and emergency surgery supplies, antibiotics, and dengue rapid tests, he said.

To also mention some positive progress, the spokesperson said that in the past few months, WHO and partners’ efforts have led to a decline in the number of cases of cholera, dengue, and malaria as 4.5 million people over one year of age received the Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) in six high-risk states.

"We have delivered supplies for the treatment of 115,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition with medical complications," he noted.