A senior United Nations official, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has revealed that the ongoing war in Sudan has claimed the lives of at least 20,000 people.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization made this grim announcement during a news conference in Port Sudan, Sudan, on Sunday.
"Sudan is suffering through a perfect storm of crisis. The scale of the emergency is shocking, as is the insufficient action being taken to curtail the conflict,” Tedros said after his two-day visit to Sudan.
The conflict, which began in April last year, has ravaged the northeastern African country, leaving a trail of destruction and chaos in its wake.
The fighting has turned cities like Khartoum into battlefields, destroying civilian infrastructure and crippling the already fragile healthcare system.
The situation has been exacerbated by devastating seasonal floods, which have killed dozens of people and washed away critical infrastructure in 12 of Sudan's 18 provinces.
A cholera outbreak has further compounded the misery, claiming at least 165 lives and sickening over 4,200 others.
Tedros called for an immediate ceasefire and urged the international community to "wake up and help Sudan out of the nightmare it's living through."
He emphasized that "the best medicine is peace."
