2023-07-25 15:54:10
In light of the intense bombing operations taking place in the west of the Sudanese capital, dozens of children who lost parental care were evacuated from a health care home in the Umbada district of Omdurman.
Voluntary organizations have been making strenuous efforts over the past weeks to evacuate regarding 400 children from Fadi Al-Sanadh, following 30 of them died due to the lack of health care in the home, which is located in one of the most dangerous areas of clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces.
Since the beginning of the fighting in mid-April, children’s homes have witnessed tragic conditions, with a lack of health care and power outages for hours.
Social care homes suffer from very complex conditions, and a great shortage of medical personnel, with continuous power outages and accumulation of waste and dirt.
The recent period witnessed a significant increase in the number of children without support, in light of the severe shortage of shelters and rehabilitation centers, and a significant deterioration in their conditions.
Although there is no accurate data on the number of children without support, independent data indicates that between 800 and 1,000 children are registered annually, half of whom enter the few care and shelter homes available in the regions and the capital.
However, regarding 5 percent of them die at an early age due to the great deficiencies in health care and the environment within care homes, which leads to the rapid spread and transmission of infectious diseases.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and non-governmental organizations concerned with children warned of “the danger that threatens children if the current ceasefire is not respected by all parties.”
Among the risks facing Sudanese children:
Children are displaced and exposed to the prospect of further serious abuses, including recruitment and use by armed groups, as well as sexual violence. According to the World Health Organization, health care has been severely affected by the violence, with a third of health care facilities in Sudan out of action, depriving children and their families of access to basic health care. The refrigeration functions that keep vaccines up to date have been affected by ongoing power and fuel outages, putting the lives of millions of children at risk in a country where vaccination rates are already declining and children face regular outbreaks of disease. Millions of children who have not received enough or no doses of vaccines will lose access to life-saving vaccines, exposing them to serious diseases such as measles and polio.
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