1,200 children die in Sudan camps since May, says UN

FE Team | Published: September 19, 2023 23:24:26

Some children in a Sudan camp

GENEVA, Sept 19 (AFP): Over 1,200 children have died in Sudan refugee camps since May, while thousands of newborns are likely to die across the war-torn country by year-end, the UN said Tuesday.
The United Nations sounded the alarm over the impact the crisis in Sudan is having on the health situation for children.
"On the back of a cruel disregard for civilians and the relentless attacks on health and nutrition services, UNICEF fears many thousands of newborns will die between now and the end of the year," UN children's agency spokesman James Elder told reporters in Geneva.
He pointed out that 333,000 children are due to be born in the country between October and December.
At the same time, nutrition services in the war-ravaged country have been "devastated", he said.
"Every month 55,000 children require treatment for the most lethal form of malnutrition, and yet in Khartoum less than one in 50 nutrition centres is functional. In West Darfur it's one in 10," Elder said.
The UN refugee agency, for its part, said its teams in Sudan's White Nile state had determined that between May 15 and September 14, more than 1,200 children under the age of five had died across nine refugee camps.