ALBAWABA - Allen Maina, chief of public health at the UN refugee agency said: "More than 1,200 refugee children under five have died in nine camps in the period between 15 May and 14 September,".
While thousands more children are expected to lose their lives by the end of the year, the United Nations sounded the alarm over the impact the crisis in Sudan is having on the health situation of children.
UN Children's Agency spokesman James Elder told reporters in Geneva: "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,".
Elder also added that around 330,000 children are expected to be born in Sudan between October and December. "Every month 55,000 children require treatment for the most lethal form of malnutrition, and yet in Khartoum, less than one in 50 nutrition centers is functional. In West Darfur it's one in 10," he added.
On their end, UNHCR said that its teams in Sudan's White Nile state discovered that between May 15 and September 14, more than 1,200 children under the age of five died in nine refugee camps.
According to Allen Maina, UNHCR's chief of public health, such camps housed mostly refugees from South Sudan and Ethiopia.
Another 3,100 possible cases of measles were recorded over the same period of time, as were more than 500 suspected cases of cholera in other parts of the country, as well as dengue and malaria outbreaks, according to the agency.
"The world has the means and the money to prevent every one of these deaths from measles or malnutrition. We can prevent more deaths, but need money for the response, access to those in need, and above all, an end to the fighting".
Elder added that UNICEF only received a quarter of the money originally pledged o help 10 million children in Sudan, which counts to $838 million.
