WHO chief hails cease-fire reached in Sudan

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed the cease-fire reached in Sudan, urging the parties to the conflict to "fully" respect it, the director-general said on Wednesday.

"The bloodshed we have seen in the past 10 days in Sudan is heartbreaking," Tedros Ghebreyesus told a press briefing." WHO welcomes the cease-fire agreed between the parties. We urge all parties to fully respect the cease-fire. Already, the violence has taken a terrible toll on health."

On April 15, fighting erupted between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum and its surroundings. On Monday, the warring parties agreed to maintain a three-day cease-fire to halt escalating violence in the East African nation.

Tedros noted that many more deaths are expected due to outbreaks, lack of access to food and water, and disruptions to essential health services, including immunization.

"WHO estimates that one-quarter of the lives lost so far could have been saved with access to basic hemorrhage control," he said. "But paramedics, nurses, and doctors are unable to access injured civilians, and civilians are unable to access services."

In Sudan's capital Khartoum, 61% of health facilities are closed and only 16% are operating as normal, he said.

While many patients with chronic diseases, like kidney disease, diabetes, and cancer, are unable to access the health facilities or medicines they need, an estimated 24,000 women will give birth in the coming weeks without access to maternal care, Tedros stressed.

The director-general added that 50,000 children are at real risk as nutrition programs are suspended.

Also, he said, power cuts are threatening to make the few remaining stocks of blood stored in the Central Blood Bank unusable.

According to the WHO, a total of 16 attacks on the healthcare sector resulted in eight deaths.

Reiterating his concern over the occupation of the central public health laboratory by one of the parties in the conflict, he warned that those occupying the lab "could be accidentally exposed to pathogens stored there."

Regarding WHO staff in Sudan, he said: "We are relocating our staff and their dependents to safety, but we are making plans to continue our operations to the best of our ability."

At least 459 people have died and 4,072 injured due to weeks of armed conflict in Sudan's capital Khartoum, the Sudan representative of the WHO said on Tuesday.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the army and the paramilitaries over military security reform. The reform envisages full RSF participation in the military, one of the main issues in negotiations by international and regional parties for a transition to civilian, democratic rule in Sudan.