According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 400 people have died in the current Sudan conflict, while the UN Children’s Agency says children are paying an agonizing price, with at least nine reportedly killed and more than 50 critically injured, according to Turkish News Agency Anadolu.
As per the data from the Sudanese government, 413 people have killed and 3,551 have been injured in the fighting, according to WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris at a UN press briefing. The clashes are part of a larger conflict between the country’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She also said that there were 11 verified attacks on health facilities, since April 15.
“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,” Harris added.
“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,” have been impacted told the WHO spokesperson, News Agency Anadolu reported.
Children Suffered the most in Sudan Conflict: UNICEF
“Clearly, as always, the fighting takes a devastating toll on children,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said in the same press conference. “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. Elder also said that large numbers of people are trapped and do not have access to electricity,
“They’re terrified of running out of food, water, and medicines,” he said, adding, “One of our grave concerns is around hospitals that have come under fire in Sudan conflict.” Elder further informed that Sudan is one of the countries with world’s highest malnutrition rates among children.
“And we’ve now got a situation where critical life-saving support for around 50,000 children is at risk,” UNICEF spokesperson stated. James Elder went on to say that war also jeopardizes “the cold chain” in Sudan, which includes over USD 40 million of vaccinations and insulin, due to power outages and the inability to refuel generators.
As reported by Anadolu, UNICEF has received reports of children seeking refuge in schools and care centers while violence rages around them, as well as children’s hospitals being forced to evacuate as shelling approaches. Elder stated that prior to the escalation of conflict in Sudan, the country’s humanitarian needs for children were considerable, with three-quarters of children expected to live in extreme poverty.
Simultaneously, 11.5 million children and community members need emergency water and sanitation services, 7 million children were absent from school, and over 600,000 children suffered from severe acute malnutrition as a result of Sudan conflict.
Fighting broke out last Saturday in Khartoum and its environs between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), reported Anadolu. The country of Sudan remains without a government since October 2021, when Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional administration was overthrown by military which political groups referred to as “coup”
