DARFUR: HUMANITARIAN NEEDS INCREASE AS RELIEF SUPPLIES DWINDLE

DARFUR:  HUMANITARIAN NEEDS INCREASE AS RELIEF SUPPLIES DWINDLE

NEW YORK, 19 April (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) -- As the estimated number of internally displaced persons in Sudan’s Darfur region has risen to 1 million, shortfalls of shelter, clean water, food and health-care supplies are compounding the humanitarian needs there.  All funds contributed for relief efforts in Darfur so far have already been exhausted.  As the ability of humanitarian agencies to assess the needs of people in Darfur increases, the United Nations expects it will have to revise its humanitarian appeal for Darfur upwards, beyond the $115 million it requested earlier this month.

The United Nation’s country team in the Sudan reports that its supplies of shelter materials for Darfur’s internally displaced persons are now completely exhausted.  Further complicating the situation of the displaced in Darfur are water shortages.  Many new settlements for the displaced are in remote areas away from water points and need urgent emergency water deliveries.  In addition, overcrowding within the camps that are not equipped with access to safe water and sanitation is likely to lead to outbreaks of cholera, meningitis, measles and acute diarrhoeal diseases.  In addition to access and resource constraints, maintaining ageing water rigs and other equipment requiring frequent maintenance are significant obstacles to the provision of adequate relief in the water sector.

Food security is also a cause for concern.  Existing stocks of food aid will also soon be used and will need urgent replenishment.  The new figure of over 1 million internally displaced puts an additional strain on existing stocks and plans.  Due to displacement and ongoing insecurity in rural areas, several planting seasons have already been lost.  Those displaced and vulnerable groups that have access to land need to prepare the land in the very short period before rains begin in June.  If humanitarian groups cannot urgently provide farmers with seeds and tools for planting, food insecurity and, thus, humanitarian needs will increase.

The lack of primary health-care services, including insufficient medical supplies of essential drugs and lack of human health resources to provide essential care, including psycho-social counselling, are compounding the health crisis in Darfur.  Secondary and tertiary health care is practically non-existent outside the state capitals.  Children under 5, children separated from their families, pregnant and lactating women, and the elderly are not only the most vulnerable among the displaced but also among the resident population.  As a result, the infant mortality rate, at an estimated 120 per 1,000 births, is very high.  Maternal mortality rates are extremely high:  while the national average is 509 per 100,000, estimates in Darfur are as high as 600 per 100,000 women.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHANY, tel.: 917 367 5126, mobile: 917 892 1679; or Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA Geneva, 41 22 917 2653, mobile: 41(0) 79 473 4570.

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