The head of “Doctors Without Borders”, Christos Christou, announced on Tuesday that one-third of the people admitted to hospitals for war-related injuries in Sudan are women or children under the age of ten.
The organization’s hospitals, the only medical facilities operating in most parts of the war-torn country, have been repeatedly attacked, Christo told AFP in Port Sudan.
Since April 2023, tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces.
Christo pointed out that many organizations chose a “reserved position” while waiting for how the conflict would develop, and this came while talks were continuing in Geneva between an international delegation and two delegations representing both sides of the war.
Christo called on other organizations, especially United Nations agencies, in light of the spread of the threat of famine and the absence of any signs of stopping the war, to return and make more efforts.
He explained that many organizations face severe “financial challenges” as a result of the chronic lack of funding for Sudan and added: “We are still suffering from looting, medical teams are being harassed, and we have lost people.”
Paramedics, who are targeted by both sides of the conflict, complain of being abandoned, while humanitarian workers describe their work as becoming almost impossible.
Most relief organizations were only able to send aid to the eastern regions controlled by the army, while the United Nations accused both parties of creating “systematic obstacles” and “deliberately denying” access to humanitarian aid.
Since the outbreak of the war, both the army and the Rapid Support Forces have been accused of looting or obstructing aid, in addition to destroying the already fragile health care system.
The American envoy to Sudan begins an African and Arab tour