CERF allocates $1.6 million for flood response in Sudan

27 October 2010: CERF allocates over $1.6 million to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for life-saving flood response in North Sudan. Over two million flood-affected will be provided with a safe water supply and some 300,000 individuals will benefit from emergency health interventions.

Heavy rains and floods have been affecting major parts of Sudan; at least 11,000 houses have been totally destroyed, while 5,000 have been partially destroyed. In the worst-affected states, the heavy rains have resulted in water and sanitation infrastructure damage in a number of internally displaced people's (IDP) camps, exacerbating an already critical situation. This damage has led to the flooding of latrines and the contamination of wells, raising concerns of morbidity and mortality from communicable diseases.

Diarrhoea and malaria have been showing an upward trend over the past weeks, due in part to a sharp rise in mosquito breeding sites in flood-affected states. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 100,000 people are directly affected and 300,000 are at risk of public health concerns if no immediate action is taken to prevent disease outbreaks.