Displacement Coordination: 17 Children Die Daily
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The General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees in Darfur announced on Monday that more than 561 children have died due to food shortages and malnutrition since the outbreak of the war in Sudan nearly a year ago, at a rate of 17 children dying every day.
The spokesperson for the coordination, Adam Rajal, stated in a statement to "Citizens" that the number of children suffering from malnutrition in displacement camps exceeds one million children, indicating the collapse of the health situation in the camps due to a severe shortage of life-saving medications and the cessation of primary healthcare centers due to a lack of medical staff and medications, in addition to a severe shortage in access to safe drinking water, as 70% of water sources inside the camps are dysfunctional.
The Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) warned earlier this week of the risk of famine in parts of Sudan, specifically in western Darfur, Khartoum, and areas in Greater Darfur. Meanwhile, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported on February 5 that at least one child dies every two hours in the Zamzam camp in Darfur, one of the largest and oldest displaced persons camps in the country.
Rajal warned that overcrowding in the camps, the lack of shelter facilities, especially for new arrivals who came after the outbreak of the current war, and the absence of a sanitation system could spread infectious diseases such as diarrhea and cholera.
The General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees is a voluntary civil organization that coordinates with representatives of displaced persons camps to address the issues of displacement and refuge in Darfur, seeking to shed light on their forgotten cause by the international community, according to the statement.
Rajal appealed to the warring parties to stop the fighting and called on the international community to stand with the displaced people, as with other communities worldwide, according to international human rights laws, to open safe corridors for delivering humanitarian aid. He also called on regional and international organizations working in the field of humanitarian aid to make efforts to provide and deliver relief as soon as possible.
The UN Security Council discussed on Wednesday, March 20, the food insecurity in Sudan following the White Paper on Food Insecurity in Sudan sent by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to Council members on March 15. It is expected that a high-level conference on Sudan and its neighbors will be held in Paris on April 15 to provide tangible commitments to support the relief effort and address the suffering - including increasing financial contributions to the humanitarian appeal for Sudan for 2024, which has so far received 131 million or only 5% of the total of 2.7 billion required by international organizations to assist Sudanese citizens.
