UN warns of hepatitis epidemic among refugees in western Sudan

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 11, 2004 (Xinhua) — The United Nations population agency called for immediate action on Wednesday to avert an epidemic of hepatitis E among more than 1 million people displaced by the conflict in Darfur, west Sudan.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA), based in News York, issued the warning a day after an outbreak of the disease was confirmed in camps for internally displaced persons in all three states of Darfur.

In a statement, the agency warned that pregnant women — who have accounted for six of the eight fatalities in one camp where the virus has been detected — were especially vulnerable to the disease, which usually has a fatality rate of 1 to 4 percent.

Figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) showed that a total of 625 HEV (hepatitis E virus) related cases and 22 deaths have been documented in western Sudan.

The statement said both the UNFPA and WHO warned that the virus — usually transmitted through water contaminated with human waste — could spread quickly in Darfur, where displaced people live in overcrowded camps with poor sanitation.

UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid was quoted as saying that the threat posed by the emergence of the virus underlined the need for greater donor support for all sectors of the humanitarian effort in Darfur.

“Food must remain a priority, of course, including nutritional supplements for pregnant and lactating women who have already been weakened by malnourishment and anaemia,” Obaid said. “But this outbreak highlights the urgency of greater international support for all sectors, from food to water and sanitation to health care.”

To date, the United Nations has received just over half the funds it has requested from international donors for urgent humanitarian needs between now and December. The UNFPA is asking donors for 3.14 million US dollars for support to pregnant and

lactating women, and to help prevent and treat sexual violence. According to UN estimates, the Darfur conflict has left up to 30,000 people dead and more than 1 million uprooted, of whom some 150,000 fled to neighboring Chad. It has been listed by UN officials as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.