OREANDA-NEWS  More than 12,000 people have been killed and more than 33,000 injured during the ongoing conflict in Sudan since April. This was announced at a briefing in Geneva by the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in this country, Mohammad Taufiq Mashal.

"Since April, at least 12,260 people have been killed and more than 33,000 injured, according to the Ministry of Health," he said, adding that "many more people" have died as a result of failures in the health care system and lack of access to urgent surgical care and medicines.

"It has been almost eight months since the conflict broke out in Sudan. The fighting spread from Khartoum to several states, affecting all Sudanese, including their health, and plunging the country into a humanitarian crisis," the WHO representative said. The country is experiencing the world's largest displacement crisis. About 6.8 million people have fled their homes "in search of safety inside Sudan or in neighboring countries."

The WHO representative drew attention to the continued spread of infectious diseases in Sudan. Cholera is registered in nine states, whereas a month ago there were only three. This disease is present in large conflict-ridden cities. More than 5.4 thousand cases of infection or suspected cholera infection and 170 deaths from cholera have been recorded. More than 4,500 cases of suspected measles and 104 deaths from the disease have been reported from 11 states. A total of more than 6,000 cases of dengue fever and 56 fatal cases have been registered in 14 states.