Biological risks are “very high” in Sudan following the occupation of a national health laboratory by belligerents, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday.
“I got a call yesterday [segunda-feira] head of the central public health laboratory. It is occupied by one of the warring factions,” Nima Saeed Abid, WHO representative in Sudan, said at a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
Nima Saeed Abid stressed that the situation is “extremely dangerous” because the laboratory contains samples of the pathogens of measles, cholera and polio.
According to Nima Saeed Abid, the occupiers “removed all technicians from the laboratory”, which is now fully “under the control of one of the belligerents as a military base”.
Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease that, if left untreated, can lead to death within hours.
Measles, in turn, is a highly contagious viral disease, like polio, which mainly affects children under the age of five.
WHO data shows that there have been 14 attacks on the health sector in Sudan since the start of the violence, leaving eight dead and two injured.
“Attacks on health are reprehensible and must stop,” the WHO demanded today.
The conflict has claimed more than 450 lives
The clashes began in Sudan in mid-April and left 459 dead and 4,072 injured, the organization said today, explaining that these figures from the Sudanese health ministry have not been verified by the WHO.
Up to 270,000 people could flee Sudan for Chad and South Sudan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said after the end of a 72-hour ceasefire between the belligerents under the protection of the United States. ).
According to Laura Lo Castro, UNHCR representative in Chad, 20,000 refugees have already arrived in that country.
‘We expect up to 100,000 refugees in the worst case’ said during the press conference, which he participated in via video call.
In South Sudan, the most likely scenario is the return of 125,000 South Sudanese refugees and 45,000 refugees,” said UNHCR South Sudan Representative Marie-Hélène Verney, also via video call.
UNHCR data recorded so far has reached about 4,000 South Sudanese from Sudan, mainly through the Renk border crossing in Upper Nile state.
There are more than 800,000 South Sudanese refugees in Sudan, a quarter of whom are in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, and have therefore been directly affected by the fighting, UNHCR said.
Source: DN
