GENEVA, Nov 11 (KUNA) -- The UN Women's Regional Director for East and Southern Africa Anna Mutavati stated Tuesday that the ongoing conflict in Sudan has turned into "a war on women".
During a press briefing in Geneva, Mutavati described the situation as "the world's most extreme crisis for women and girls" pointing out that they continue to bear the brunt of Sudan's prolonged conflict which has ravaged communities for more than two years.
She reported that according to UN Women's latest Gender Alert titled "Gender Dimensions of Food Insecurity in Sudan" nearly 11 million women and girls are now acutely food insecure.
"Simply being a woman in Sudan is a strong predictor of hunger of violence and death," Mutavati said.
She noted that famine has been officially declared by the IPC in (El Fasher) and (Kadugli) adding that 73 percent of women do not meet the minimum dietary diversity exposing them to severe malnutrition and health risks.
Mutavati stressed that the collapse of the health system has further deepened the crisis saying that over 80 percent of medical facilities have shut down since the war began leading to alarming increases in maternal health complications including 28 percent high-risk pregnancies and 45 percent with miscarriage history.
"In El Fasher, pregnant women have given birth in the streets after maternity hospitals were looted and destroyed," she added describing the situation as "catastrophic." She called for an immediate halt to hostilities the implementation of the proposed humanitarian ceasefire and the creation of safe corridors for women girls and civilians and urged humanitarian agencies to prioritize women-headed households in food aid and livelihood recovery and to protect aid workers especially local women who risk their lives daily.
She said that despite the hardship women-led organizations have remained "the bedrock of the humanitarian response" operating community kitchens and supporting malnourished children stressing that only three percent of humanitarian funding reaches them directly according to UN Women. (end) imk.aai