Specialists in the health and environment sectors in Sudan have warned of the catastrophic effects of the rapid spread of fever diseases, especially malaria and dengue fever, in light of the exacerbation of environmental problems resulting from the accumulation of waste and stagnant water in most neighborhoods of the capital, Khartoum, and other cities of the country.
The past weeks have witnessed an alarming increase in the incidence of dengue fever, which has spread to more than 12 of the country’s 18 states.
The fever reached the capital, Khartoum, which has recorded regarding 1,100 cases so far, out of the total number of infections recorded in the country, estimated at more than 6,000 cases.
In light of the deteriorating conditions of hospitals and health centers in the country and the lack of means of prevention and protection for health personnel, infection rates have increased among doctors and medical personnel, as more than 20 cases have been recorded among hospital workers.
In addition to dengue fever, infection with malaria still poses a great pressure on the health system in Sudan, as data from the World Health Organization indicate that regarding 2.7 million people, or regarding 5 percent of the Sudanese population, will be infected with malaria during the year 2022.
waste and water
Specialists attribute the increase in the spread of fever diseases, during the recent period, to administrative negligence, the accumulation of waste, and the spread of stagnant and polluted water, which constitutes a fertile environment for the breeding of mosquitoes, flies, and other disease vectors.
According to Abdul Majid Ahmed, a public health specialist in the Sudanese Ministry of Health, the accumulation of waste is the largest incubator for vectors of fever diseases in Sudan.
Ahmed told Sky News Arabia that the capital, Khartoum, which is inhabited by regarding 7 million people, is overcrowded with waste, the average daily volume of which is estimated at regarding 18,000 tons.
Ahmed holds the administrative deterioration responsible for the inability to properly deal with the waste problem, saying that it causes health disasters that may exacerbate further, costing the state huge amounts of money.
On the other hand, Khartoum and many other cities in the country suffer from the accumulation of water in the streets and residential neighborhoods throughout the year, due to the aging of drinking water distribution networks, amid fears of its mixing with sewage water.
There is talk in Sudan of a major failure in the development of networks and pumping stations, which has resulted in an inability to keep pace with the geographical and human expansion witnessed by the capital, Khartoum, and other cities, during the past years.
Abdul Raziq Mukhtar, former director of the Water Supply Authority in Khartoum State, attributes the reasons for the accumulation of water to two reasons. One of them is seasonal, related to the rainy season, and the second is the aging of distribution networks and the decline in their level of efficiency.
Mukhtar explains to “Sky News Arabia” that the water distribution networks suffer from major problems due to their obsolescence and inadequacy.
The aging of water distribution networks has become one of the reasons that help breed disease vectors. This problem is clearly reflected in the records of diseases transmitted by insects that breed in stagnant waters.
noticeable deterioration
Fears of the current wave of febrile diseases are exacerbated, in light of the continued collapse of the health sector and the inability of patients to pay the treatment bill, which has doubled over the past months by regarding 10 times in government hospitals and health centers.
Reports indicate that more than 40 percent of health centers have been completely or partially out of service during the past weeks.
Experts expect that the health situation will worsen, given the high poverty rates in Sudan, which reach more than 50 percent of the country’s population of regarding 40 million.
Sudanese journalist Musab Brier, who is interested in environmental and health aspects, points out that the escalation of fevers sheds light on the dilapidated health system in Sudan, which the World Health Organization recognized as lacking the necessary infrastructure to monitor diseases.
He believes that the solution lies in caring for purifying the environment in which diseases arise, and focusing on providing means to combat vectors of fever diseases.
Numbers and facts
- 80 percent of the diseases recorded in Sudanese hospitals are related to environmental factors or to problems resulting from water pollution.
- A 500 percent increase in the number of dengue fever cases has been reported in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, over the past three weeks.
- The health system in Sudan suffers from major problems, due to the emigration of large numbers of doctors and the deterioration of the work environment and hospitals.
