Women and newborns in South Darfur dying from preventable conditions, MSF alerts

Mothers and children in the Sudanese region of South Darfur are experiencing one of the “worst” health emergencies in the world, humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders alerted Tuesday (Sep. 24).

This is one of the consequences of the war that has engulfed the country since April 2023.

Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, said in its latest report that 114 maternal deaths occurred between January and mid-August 2024.

Over 50% of maternal deaths happened in medical settings, with sepsis being the most common cause of death in MSF-supported facilities.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that happens when the body’s immune system has an extreme response to an infection, causing organ dysfunction.

It can be prevented.

Between January and June, 48 newborns died from sepsis at two MSF-backed medical facilities.

In August, 30,000 children under the age of two were screened for malnutrition, including nearly 33% who are acutely malnourished and 8.1% who are severely and acutely malnourished, MSF said Tuesday.

“This is a crisis unlike any other I have seen in my career — multiple health emergencies happening simultaneously with almost no international response from the UN and others,” said Dr. Gillian Burkhardt, MSF sexual and reproductive health activity manager, in Nyala, South Darfur. “Newborn babies, pregnant women, and new mothers are dying in shocking numbers. So many deaths are due to preventable conditions, as almost everything has broken down.”

The situation was particularly dire for women at Nyala Teaching Hospital and Kas Rural Hospital, where MSF reported 46 maternal deaths between January and August. In those two hospitals, 78% of maternal deaths happened within the first 24 hours after admission.

Most humanitarian organizations haven’t returned to the capital of South Darfur Nyala which is Sudan's second largest city outside of the Khartoum area.