OCHA Wednesday reports that despite active conflict and funding shortfalls, humanitarian organisations continue to deliver life-saving assistance across conflict-hit Sudan
According to the agency in a statement to APA, in the first seven months of this year (January to July), the UN and humanitarian partners reached 12.3 million people across the country with at least one form of assistance.
However, just 2.2 million people – or 18 percent of those reached – received assistance across multiple sectors, underscoring the impact of underfunding and other challenges on efforts to reach people with the full range of support they need.
Meanwhile, the UN and partners are stepping up efforts to tackle cholera as the rainy season continues. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 2,600 cases had been reported by early August across multiple states, with the Kordofan region at the epicentre.
Health workers continue to provide treatment, conduct vaccination campaigns and distribute essential medical supplies. Tragically, WHO says that a vaccinator was killed in an attack on a market in West Kordofan State on Saturday, while searching for her son among casualties from an earlier attack.
Meanwhile, humanitarians are scaling up efforts to provide clean water. In Kordofan State, a water system rehabilitated with UNICEF support in Abu Jubayhah is now providing safe water to 25,000 people every day, including 5,000 displaced people.
At the same time, insecurity continues to drive displacement, including in the Kordofan region. IOM reports that some 730 people fled several villages in Abassiya locality, South Kordofan, on Sunday. They sought safety elsewhere in Abassiya and in Um Rawaba locality in neighbouring North Kordofan.
OCHA once again calls on all parties to protect civilians, including health and humanitarian workers, and to facilitate rapid, safe, unhindered and sustained humanitarian access.
The UN continues to appeal for additional funding. This year’s humanitarian appeal for Sudan remains 41 percent funded, with about $1.2 billion received against the nearly $2.9 billion required.
WN/as/APA