In a special terrible attack, A hospital was attacked last Friday, along with residential areas and a livestock market in North Darfur state, leaving at least 97 civilians dead or injured.
The UN agency warned that attacks on health facilities, personnel and supplies violate international humanitarian law and leave Sudan’s health care system “hanging by a thread”.
“Hospitals, health facilities, ambulances and other medical assets are the lifeblood of the Sudanese people, who have endured a protracted war and the constant displacement caused by the ongoing conflict,” it said in a statement.
“However, their perseverance and dedication were rewarded with bombing, harassment, threats, injuries and death.”
A destroyed room at Aalia Specialist Hospital in Omdurman, Sudan.
Protect health care
WHO has recorded 88 attacks on healthcare facilities since fighting broke out in April last year between rival military forces – the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The UN agency stressed the obligation of the parties to the conflict, under international humanitarian law, to ensure that health care, as well as medical supplies and personnel, are protected from any harm.
“We call for all health workers, patients and health facilities to be protected at all times,” the report said, stressing the need to silence the guns to ensure the health system can be rebuilt.
The conflict has left more than 18,800 dead and 33,000 injured, with more than 10 million people displaced, including five million children. Sudan is also experiencing unprecedented food insecurity, with 25.6 million people, more than half the population, facing severe hunger.
Cases on the rise
The agency also reported that less than 25 percent of health facilities in provinces affected by fighting were functioning, while only 45 percent were functioning in other areas.
The UN deputy humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, Toby Harward, highlighted the impact on civilians, especially children.
Vulnerable people are dying in hard-to-reach places when they cannot access functional hospitals and clinics, he said from Chad, who has just returned from the Darfur region that has seen the worst of the fighting.
Many children are suffering from coughs, colds and other symptoms of illness, including flu, and last week alone, 77 children were admitted to various hospitals for acute malnutrition and medical complications, he told reporters in New York via video link.
“These cases…are increasing every week,” he added.
