Pregnant women, mothers, and newborn babies are dying at a shocking rate in Sudan's South Darfur region and thousands of malnourished children are on the brink of starvation, medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said.
The health crisis in South Darfur is one of the worst of its kind globally and is being driven by the conflict between military factions that broke out in April last year, MSF said in a report.
"The situation in South Darfur is a snapshot of what is likely unfolding at dreadful proportions across war-torn and isolated areas of Sudan," the report said.
MSF said it had recorded 46 maternal deaths in two South Darfur hospitals that the charity supports from January-August, and 48 deaths of newborns from sepsis in the same hospitals from January-June.
About one-third of children under two years old screened in South Darfur in August were acutely malnourished, more than double the World Health Organization's emergency threshold, it said. More than 8% were suffering severe acute malnourishment, a common cause of death.
"Multiple health emergencies are happening simultaneously with almost no international response from the U.N. and others," Dr Gillian Burkhardt, an MSF sexual and reproductive health manager in South Darfur, said in a statement.
"Newborn babies, pregnant women, and new mothers are dying in shocking numbers."
The report said conflict and displacement were forcing women to give birth in unsanitary conditions in areas where they lacked access to healthcare and medicine.
Source: News.Az
Comments