PORT SUDAN: Dengue fever outbreak and acute watery diarrhea have claimed hundreds of lives in conflict-hit Sudan, Western media reported on Monday.
Medics have warned that catastrophic spreads could overwhelm the country’s weak health system.
The Sudanese doctors’ union in a statement said that the health conditions in the southeastern state of Gedaref bordering Ethiopia are worsening at a dangerous rate with thousands of new infections of dengue fever reported.
Though the brutal war between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has not hit Gedaref areas but it has been impacted by mass displacement and other humanitarian issues.
80 percent of Sudan’s hospitals out of service
According to the United Nations 80 percent of Sudan’s hospitals are out of service in five months of war.
Even before the war, Sudan’s weak healthcare system struggled to contain the annual disease outbreaks, especially in the rainy season starting in June, including malaria — endemic in Sudan — and dengue fever.
Read Also: Deadly Outbreaks of Dengue Fever and Diarrhea Ravage Sudan
The US says that Gedaref which is hosting over 250,000 internally displaced people is facing a much worse situation.
A medical source from Gedaref Hospital told media that the hospital’s beds are all full but the cases keep coming in, particularly children.
