The World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that it was working on evacuating its non-essential staff and their families from Sudan.
WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Ahmad al-Mandhari told Asharq Al-Awsat that the health and humanitarian situation in Sudan was becoming more dangerous.
The health ministry said 18 health workers have already been killed in the fighting.
Al-Mandhari said the WHO was focusing on evacuating the non-essential staff given the severe water shortage, electricity cuts and shortage of supplies of basic goods.
He stressed that essential staff will remain to offer all forms of support possible to save lives and limit the impact of the crisis on people’s health, especially with the rising death toll and number of wounded.
The situation will only get worse after 20 health care centers were forced to stop operating, he added. Thirteen of the centers are located in the capital, Khartoum.
Twelve other centers are on the verge of being forced to stop operating given the attacks on health facilities, he warned.
He predicted that the death toll from infectious diseases and malnutrition will rise.
The World Food Program has suspended its operations given its inability to access the local market, al-Mandhari said, warning that this will have a major impact on health needs.
Around a third of the population was suffering from hunger even before the conflict erupted, he remarked. Some 50,000 children are suffering from severe malnutrition and need constant care.
The WHO said it was expecting outbreaks of cholera after some water stations stopped operating.
Some 24,000 pregnant women were expected to deliver their babies in the coming weeks, but they will be unable to access the proper health care they need, warned al-Mandhari.
