‘Infant mortality rates risen to five a day in Darfur camp’: Sheikh
Lack of adequate health care and proper nutrition for the children of Darfuris, especially the displaced, has seen the infant mortality rate rise throughout the region, according to multiple reports reaching Radio Dabanga. In Attash camp near Nyala, capital of South Darfur, four to five children are dying of diarrhoea and malnutrition every day. Sheikh Abdul Karim Abkar told Radio Dabanga that “the mortality rate at Attash camp has risen significantly from the end of August into the first week of September”. The sheikh said that delegations from the World Food Programme and the International Organization for Migration visited the camp on Monday and met with representatives of the displaced. “At the meeting, we discussed the situation of displaced people and their problems relating to food, health, education, and water. The representatives of the displaced and organisations agreed to bring the matter to the attention of higher authorities to find a solution.” Um Dafug A total of 11 children and a woman reportedly died due to diarrhoea and malaria last week in Um Dafug locality in South Darfur. In an interview with Radio Dabanga, resident Mohamed Issa Ibrahim attributed the deaths to a shortage of medicine and a lack of health care. He noted that there is no hospital in the locality, so that the most serious cases need to be transferred to hospital in Rahad El Berdi some 100km to the north-east. “Um Dafug is completely isolated at this time of the year,” Ibrahim said. “The wadis and creeks are swollen after the rains, so it is not reachable overland. This results in shortages, so that the cost of consumer goods has reached insane levels.” According to Ibrahim, a pound sugar now costs SDG 10 ($2,27) and jerry can of vegetable to SDG250 ($57). He also laments the price of medicines, which he says are controlled by owners of clinics, and appealed to the state authorities to provide health services and education to the people of Um Dafug. File photo (OCHA) Related: Malnutrition kills 10 children in Central Darfur (2 September 2013) ‘Four children die each day in South Darfur capital’: medical director (28 August 2013)
Lack of adequate health care and proper nutrition for the children of Darfuris, especially the displaced, has seen the infant mortality rate rise throughout the region, according to multiple reports reaching Radio Dabanga.
In Attash camp near Nyala, capital of South Darfur, four to five children are dying of diarrhoea and malnutrition every day.
Sheikh Abdul Karim Abkar told Radio Dabanga that “the mortality rate at Attash camp has risen significantly from the end of August into the first week of September”.
The sheikh said that delegations from the World Food Programme and the International Organization for Migration visited the camp on Monday and met with representatives of the displaced.
“At the meeting, we discussed the situation of displaced people and their problems relating to food, health, education, and water. The representatives of the displaced and organisations agreed to bring the matter to the attention of higher authorities to find a solution.”
Um Dafug
A total of 11 children and a woman reportedly died due to diarrhoea and malaria last week in Um Dafug locality in South Darfur.
In an interview with Radio Dabanga, resident Mohamed Issa Ibrahim attributed the deaths to a shortage of medicine and a lack of health care. He noted that there is no hospital in the locality, so that the most serious cases need to be transferred to hospital in Rahad El Berdi some 100km to the north-east.
“Um Dafug is completely isolated at this time of the year,” Ibrahim said. “The wadis and creeks are swollen after the rains, so it is not reachable overland. This results in shortages, so that the cost of consumer goods has reached insane levels.”
According to Ibrahim, a pound sugar now costs SDG 10 ($2,27) and jerry can of vegetable to SDG250 ($57). He also laments the price of medicines, which he says are controlled by owners of clinics, and appealed to the state authorities to provide health services and education to the people of Um Dafug.
File photo (OCHA)
Related:
Malnutrition kills 10 children in Central Darfur (2 September 2013)
‘Four children die each day in South Darfur capital’: medical director (28 August 2013)
and then