WHO Warns of Major Health Catastrophe in Sudan

World Markets Research Centre (WMRC)

Two leading World Health Organization (WHO) officials have warned of a major health catastrophe in Sudan, according to the Medical Letter. The officials have said that the western region of Darfur is in urgent need of boosted funds and medical supplies, with ‘hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people’ in the region at risk from cholera, dysentery and malaria. WHO Director General Lee Jong-wook said that ‘people are dying now because they are living in totally unsatisfactory conditions’. Meanwhile, it has been reported that the Libyan government has agreed to ‘open a corridor for food aid and other UN humanitarian supplies’ for 1.2m people who have been displaced by the conflict in Darfur.

Significance: Cholera, dysentery and malaria constitute a serious health burden in Sudan, with malaria representing the country’s leading cause of death (see Sudan: 23 January 2002: Malaria Reported as Leading Killer in Sudan). The WHO warning illustrates the extent to which the country’s long-running internal conflict compounds its poor health status and inadequate healthcare provision.