Doctors Without Borders with Sudan prayer: – Pregnant women and children die from things that can be prevented

The organization describes the situation as one of the worst health crises for pregnant women and children. Maternal mortality at two hospitals in South Darfur corresponds to 7 percent of the total maternal mortality at MSF clinics worldwide in 2023.

I the report “Driven to oblivion”, the organization has looked at the health situation of women, mothers and children in South Darfur. It also reveals that malnutrition in children is far above the levels that indicate an acute crisis.

Now MSF wants the UN to return to Darfur as soon as possible to ensure that the aid reaches them.

– Only a coordinated international response, supported by solid funding and unwavering pressure on the warring parties, can avert mass starvation and alleviate the suffering of millions of people, MSF writes in a statement to NTB.

Could have been avoided

From January to August this year, 46 women in labor died at two of the hospitals MSF supports in South Darfur. Because several health centers are not functioning and transport is difficult, many women arrive at the hospitals in a critical condition.

– Several health crises are happening at the same time in Sudan, with almost no international response from the UN and others. A shocking number of newborn children, pregnant women and new mothers die, says Gillian Burkhardt.

She leads MSF’s work with sexual and reproductive health in the town of Nyala in South Darfur. According to Burkhardt, many of the deaths are due to conditions that could have been prevented.

Blood poisoning is the most common cause of death, because the women have to give birth in unhygienic surroundings without basic things such as soap and clean and sterilized equipment. These things can prevent infections that can be treated with antibiotics.

Children are dying in droves

Thousands of children in South Darfur are on the brink of death and starvation. Many of the children in this area also die from conditions that could have been prevented, the report shows. From January to June this year, 48 newborns, one in five, died of blood poisoning in the two hospitals.

– The mismatch between the enormous needs for health care, food and basic services and the consistent lack of international response is shameful, says Burkhardt.

In August, 30,000 children under the age of two in South Darfur were examined for malnutrition. According to Doctors Without Borders, a third of these were acutely malnourished. In addition, 8 percent of the children examined were severely, acutely malnourished.

– We know that Sudan is a challenging place to work, but waiting for the challenges to disappear by themselves leads nowhere. For thousands of mothers and children, it is already too late. The risk must be managed, and a solution must be found before even more lives are lost, says Burkhardt.

The world’s biggest refugee crisis

It is now more than 500 days since the conflict in Sudan started. Since then, ten million people have been forced to flee, several areas are affected by famine and close to 25 million people are in need of emergency assistance, according to the Red Cross.

– The conflict in Sudan has created what is the world’s biggest crisis with people on the run, and which is in danger of becoming the world’s biggest hunger crisis. The need to get better access for emergency aid efforts is absolutely urgent, says Secretary General Anne Bergh of the Red Cross in a press release.

In addition to all those displaced inside Sudan, two million people have crossed the borders into the neighboring countries of the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Uganda.

– The lack of security for humanitarian organizations amplifies the scope of the crisis because emergency aid does not arrive, and there is simply no access to enough food, says Bergh.