MSF: The Health and Humanitarian Situation in Sudan is “The Worst”

Cairo – Sudanhorizon – Sabah Musa

Under the title (The War on Human Beings), Doctors Without Borders(Médecins Sans Frontières) held a press conference, on Monday, in the Jordanian capital, Amman, attended by the Sudanhorizon and Almohagig websites via the “Zoom” platform. The conference discussed the humanitarian cost of the conflict and violence in Sudan, the latest repercussions of the war after a year, and the issuance of a report by the organization on the catastrophic situation in the country.

The organization called on all warring parties in Sudan to ensure the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers, and to allow the wounded and sick to obtain health care and called on partner countries and regional bodies to increase pressure on the warring parties in Sudan to adhere to their pledges to protect civilians.

The head of Doctors Without Borders, Christos Christou, described the health and humanitarian situation in Sudan as the worst ever, and very worrying. He said that the situation is deteriorating very quickly, in light of the challenges hindering movement, the small number of international humanitarian actors on the ground, and limited funding. Allocated for the response by donor countries, adding that more than 70% of health facilities have stopped working and that the level of malnutrition is increasing, anticipating an increase in cases of malaria and epidemics, such as cholera, with the start of the rainy season.

For her part, the General Director of Doctors Without Borders, Vickie Hawkins, called on all warring parties in Sudan to ensure the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers and to allow the wounded and sick to access health care. She also called on partner countries and regional bodies to increase pressure on the warring parties in Sudan to adhere to their pledges to protect civilians, and the delivery of aid, she said, “We documented no less than 60 incidents of violence and attacks by Rapid Support on the organization’s employees, property, and infrastructure.”

For her part, the head of the organization’s media office, Enas Abu Khalaf, confirmed that the consequences of the conflict on the lives and health of people in Sudan are catastrophic, and she highlighted the direct impact of the war, which left health services in a state of massive devastation, as well as the features and characteristics of the violations that affected the humanitarian and health situation, explaining that… Strengthening the organization’s report, with live testimonies from patients in Sudan and neighboring countries, especially in the Chadian city of Adre, she said, “We faced great challenges, due to the difficulty of obtaining information,” adding that over the course of three days, we monitored random shooting from Rapid Support at the Arab market in Khartoum.

She continued, “We do not want to exaggerate the scene, and we do not want to diminish it”. She called on the international community to protect the civilian population and said that there is an urgent necessity for the two sides to move as well, as well as the partner countries and regional and international organizations, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Chad, and America, as well as the United Nations and the African Union, using means of pressure to protect civilians and deliver aid, and to adhere to what was agreed upon in the Jeddah platform in this regard.

She also called for the formation of oversight mechanisms, and strengthening of the mandate of the United Nations representative, and said there must be accountability, explaining that the “Al-Naw” Hospital in Omdurman received 6,000 war wounded in a short period, with injuries from gunshots and shrapnel, and pointed out that there is violence based on ethnicity in areas such as Darfur, and she said, “We spoke in Adrei with displaced people from the city of El Geneina in West Darfur and they confirmed this to us,” adding that we are trying to cover medical needs, and we have supported more than half a million medical consultations, as well as about 100,000 malaria patients, and also covering at least 400 natural births and others with operations. Noting that approximately 4,500 patients with psychological trauma resulting from the war were received at Bashayer Hospital.

She said that what we are presenting today is an overview of the humanitarian situation in 8 Sudanese states, noting the lack of humanitarian aid reaching the needy, and the lack of medicines. She called on international relief organizations to ensure the delivery of aid and its access to all those in need, pointing to the warring parties’ restrictions on the humanitarian response, and she said that this It affects access to health care and denies aid to those in need.

Demanding that this stop, adding that we were repeatedly targeted and attacked by the warring parties, and we were forced to stop working in Wad Madani and the Turkish Hospital in Khartoum, and in Omdurman and El Fasher, and our hospitals were raided, explaining that there are 30% of women and children wounded in the war, and she said we monitored the work of Murder, displacement, humiliating interrogation, and arbitrary arrest, which led to catastrophic effects on people’s health and lives, and we also monitored the horrific effects on mental health, which are widespread.