WHO calls for end to attacks on health facilities in Sudan

April 15, 2024 (PARIS) – The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called for end to all attacks on health facilities in Sudan as the country’s ongoing conflict marked one year.

He was speaking at a conference on the humanitarian situation in Sudan in Paris on Monday, thanking France, Germany and the European Union for hosting it.

Tedros said WHO needed access across borders and humanitarian corridors.

Access especially through the Adre crossing with Chad is vital, he remarked.

Stressing the urgent need for funding, the WHO boss said the health sector has less than 12% of the funds, appealing for more funds for the UN and its agencies.

It makes me so sad, because it is personal to me because I have been close to Sudan all my life – not only that, but because I am from that restive region, he said, stressing that the profound health crisis could reverberate for generations.

According to the UN, at least 15,000 people have been killed in the fighting in Sudan, nearly 30,000 injured, and more are dying from disease and malnutrition.

Almost 15 million people need health assistance, Tedros said, adding that acute and chronic malnutrition are rampant.

Officially, however, the world health body said it verified 62 attacks on health care, but said it was just the tip of the iceberg because there is under reporting.

Today, 70% of health facilities are not working in hard-to-reach areas, it stated.

In many areas, the WHO Director General told the conference, pregnant women and new-born babies receive no care; no vaccinations for children; no medication for patients with cancer, diabetes or kidney and heart disease;

And outbreaks of cholera, dengue, malaria and measles continue, he noted.

There have been several reports of women and girls in Sudan being vulnerable, amid the high rates of gender-based violence, including rape being reported.

(ST)