SUDAN-HEALTH: UN Issues Call for Emergency Aid

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Feb 18 1997 (IPS) - The next month is crucial in terms of prevention of meningococcal meningitis in Sudan, because of the tendency for outbreaks of the disease – which has an up to 40 percent mortality rate – at this time of year.

Especially vulnerable are 1.25 million children and adolescents that make up part of the population displaced by the civil war in the north African country.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) prevention plan is in need of 913,000 dollars to finance vaccination against meningococcal meningitis. The programme is part of a broad offensive to be launched by UN agencies and independent humanitarian agencies against meningitis, diarrhea and AIDS (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome) in Sudan.

The UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs issued a call to donors on Tuesday for 120.8 million dollars to provide aid to a total of 4.2 million people affected by the 14-year armed conflict in Sudan, where the government of Khartoum, headed by General Omar Hassan Al Bashir, is waging war against the separatist Sudanese Popular Liberation Army (SPLA).

The war has taken a trememdous toll on the population, which struggles against the effects of chronic malnutrition and an alarming rise in contagious diseases.

The WHO programme will fight epidemics of diarrhea, through the treatment of some 630,000 children aged five and under and roughly one million over five, education in basic concepts of hygiene and health, training of health workers and the upgrading of installations, at the cost of 875,000 dollars.

The AIDS prevention component will cost two million dollars, and is aimed at around 2.5 million inhabitants of the states of Equatoria, Bahr Al-Ghazal/Lagos, Upper Nile/Jonglei and in the greater Khartoum area.

There is a high rate of Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus (HIV)- positive status among the population of the southern region of Sudan, due to proximity with countries like Uganda, Kenya and Zaire that have been hit hard by AIDS, and the cross-border movement of people.

By late 1996 some 20,000 cases of AIDS and roughly 180,000 HIV- positive individuals were registered in the area. The rate of HIV in laboratory blood tests rose to one per 200, 20 times higher than the 1995 figure.

A report by the UN children’s agency (UNICEF) reflects the health conditions among the population of Sudan. Of more than one million patients treated, 28 percent were diagnosed with malaria, 15 percent with acute respiratory infections and 12 percent with diarrhea.

An outbreak of cholera in April 1996 spread like wildfire, with 12,000 cases reported in six weeks, and a final count of 1,800 dead.

In southern Sudan, women and children are the most vulnerable to malnutrition, the report states, especially in areas of Bahr Alo-Ghazal and the Upper Nile. The highest incidence of malnutrition was found in Bahr Al-Gazhal. In the town of Agaigai, before UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) provided emergency food aid, a full 48.7 percent of women were found to be malnourished.

UNICEF also distributed educational materials for 2,800 primary schools attended by some 660,000 children, and materials for 30,000 school uniforms to be sewn by 17 womens groups.

The report underlines the need for incorporating a gender perspective in the training of teachers and the hiring of women teachers in southern Sudan. A network of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) was formed in 1996 to work for women’s rights.

UNICEF is in need of 46 million dollars to continue its projects in Sudan this year, while the WFP requires 43.1 million to distribute food to 2.6 million inhabitants throughout Sudan, 500,000 more than in 1996. The lion’s share of the food aid will go to people in the south.

Aid to Sudan is provided with the support of local and international NGOS working in close collaboration with UN agencies. Some 50 agencies operate out of Khartoum, authorised by accords reached with the Sudanese government. Another 35 that operate mainly in southern Sudan are based in Nairobi.