Crisis in Sudan: A number of cold chain facilities have been looted and destroyed, the UN body said.
Khartoum:
More than a million polio vaccines for children have been destroyed following looting in Sudan during the upsurge in violence since April, the UN children’s agency told Reuters on Friday. ‘UNICEF.
“A number of cold chain facilities have been looted, damaged and destroyed, including more than a million polio vaccines in South Darfur,” said Hazel De Wet, deputy director of the Programs Office of emergency to Reuters in an email.
The agency was in the midst of a series of polio vaccination campaigns in Sudan following an outbreak at the end of 2022.
Poliomyelitis, a disease that mainly affects children under 5, can lead to paralysis and death. Africa was declared free of wild polio in 2020, but Malawi, Mozambique and Sudan have reported imported cases since last year.
A World Health Organization database shows there have been 28 attacks on health facilities in Sudan since the conflict began last month, pitting the Sudanese army against paramilitary rapid support forces.
Many aid agencies reported looting during the Sudan crisis, including the World Food Program, which said it lost $13-14 million in supplies.
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