In Sudan’s Zamzam Camp, One Child Dies Every Two Hours

At least 1 child is dying every 2 hours in Sudan’s Zamzam camp

At least one child is dying every two hours in Sudan’s Zamzam camp, one of the largest and oldest camps for displaced people in the country, French medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said today.

“Before the start of the conflict in April last year, people in the camp were heavily reliant on international support for food, healthcare, clean water – everything. Now, they have been almost completely abandoned,” said Claire Nicolet, head of MSF’s emergency response in Sudan.

Calling for an immediate, coordinated and rapid scale-up of the humanitarian response in order to save lives, MSF said almost a quarter of children screened during the assessment were found to be acutely malnourished, with seven per cent having severe acute malnutrition (SAM).

Forty per cent of pregnant and breastfeeding women were also found to be malnourished, “another indicator of the intense severity of the situation,” it explained.