The explosion of pandemics and the curse of war
Yousif Siraj
The curse of war is to be done only to add to the suffering of the Sudanese. Those fleeing the war in Khartoum, those displaced from the cities of Darfur and Kordofan, like the neighbourhood, have fled Ramadi with fire. They havent caught their breath yet from the horror of what theyve seen and the strenuous displacement trips. Disasters are hindering them with a new health and environmental explosion, as epidemics kill them by the spread of cholera and malaria diseases, which are increasing and worrying in the states of central Sudan.
While specialists warn of the collapse of the health system, the water and electricity crises are escalating, amid the accumulation of waste and the discharge of many hospitals, health centres and laboratories. In addition, the supply of medicines has ceased and the fate of the precautions in Khartoum State remains unknown. The stockpile may have been disrupted by looting and vandalism, and at the very least some drugs expired seven months after the outbreak of the war in April.
A national cholera task force has been formally set up, with health reports of its spread in central states, resulting in seven deaths and dozens of cases in the island state alone.
Anti-parenting efforts are proceeding with the support of the World Health Organization and partners, but we fear that these efforts will be demonstrated by the apparent paralysis in the functioning of national institutions and machineries, the absence of policies and the slowdown in the preparation of contingency plans to increase and secure the supply of clean water and treatment of sanitation facilities in areas at risk of epidemics, particularly in the island states of El GGQadaref, White nile, SenNar and DarDarfur.
A parallel role must be played by national organizations and community activists in raising awareness and educating about epidemiological risks and activating public hygiene campaigns to reduce the risk of infection.
The preliminary committee of the Sudan Doctors Union described the health situation in the country as catastrophic and on the cusp of collapse. It noted that thousands of people fleeing the war are now threatened by the risks of epidemics in shelters, which lack the most basic services, especially in the state of Al Jazeera, where hospitals and brutal decline in services as the number of patients increases.
The budgets allocated by the stakeholders are not commensurate with the magnitude of the disaster, and the de facto government should pay attention to the risks to the citizen, and should not exercise blindness and obscurity through reports that do not reflect the real reality of disasters.
