By Emilio Godoy
SAN MIGEL TOPILEJO, Mexico, Sep 26 2024 – Verónica Molina, an indigenous Comcaac woman, first came into contact with solar energy in 2016, when she travelled to India for training on communal photovoltaic facilities. This later enabled her to take part in the installation of the first solar systems and family vegetable gardens in her community, Desemboque del Seri, in northern Mexico.

Later on, she was invited to the project Energy, Water and Food Security for Indigenous Peoples in Semi-Arid Coastal Regions of Northern Mexico, sponsored by the governmental National Council of Humanities, Science and Technology (Conahcyt), which began in 2022.

“We plant vegetables, because there are no other seeds to use. They are for self-consumption. With the panels, we pay less for energy, and with the gardens we save money on vegetables,” the solar activist told IPS from Desemboque del Seri, some 1,900 kilometres from Mexico City.

“We realised that they had health, economy, food, and land issues. We looked for comprehensive solutions, aligned with the budget. They have the sea or the desert, it’s an extremely arid place,” Rodolfo Peón.
In addition to producing their own electricity, the participating families harvest a variety of vegetables in Desemboque and neighbouring Punta Chueca, Comcaac territories inhabited by some 1,200 people on the coast of the state of Sonora, and one of Mexico’s 69 indigenous peoples, who also fish.

While the panels cover between 25% and 75% of a household’s consumption, each of the more than 40 family gardens provides between 100 and 200 kilograms of vegetables for each of the two annual harvest seasons.

The region suffers from marginalisation, poverty and disease. In contrast, it receives a daily solar irradiation of 5.9 kWh/m2 and an annual rainfall of 200 millilitres, which makes seasonal agriculture difficult.

The initiative consists of a hybrid system that combines photovoltaic generation and food production, located under the panels to harness the sun, shade and dew that they capture during the night, which is in vogue in countries such as Germany, Brazil and the United States.

This eco-technology is still in its infancy in Mexico, and it is unknown how many systems are in operation in the country. The Mexican Agrovoltaic Network is preparing a census to determine their status.

In fact, the Strategic Plan on Climate Change for the Agri-Food Sector includes among its goals the use of solar panels for electricity generation.

Comcáac indigenous people have installed agrovoltaic systems, which combine solar energy and family gardens, in the Desemboque de los Seris community, in the northern Mexican state of Sonora. Credit: Courtesy of Rodolfo Peón

Mitigation

“We realised that they had health, economy, food, and land issues. We looked for comprehensive solutions, aligned with the budget. They have the sea or the desert, it’s an extremely arid place,” Rodolfo Peón told IPS from Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora.

“We saw that agriculture was an alternative to improve their diet and provide electricity,” added the researcher from the Department of Industrial Engineering at the public University of Sonora, referring to the project in the Comcáac territory.

This is how the agrovoltaic scheme, the only low-cost solution for the area, came on the scene.

Funded by Conahcyt’s National Strategic Programmes with some 450,000 dollars, the project addresses the components of energy, water, food, health, biodiversity and territorial defence.

Since 2018, the government has been driving, with little success, for internal capacity (sovereignty) in food production for Mexico’s population of some 130 million people.

Mexico currently ranks 11th in the world in food production. During the first seven months of this year it exported more agri-foods than in the same period last year, although it also bought more, albeit in an agricultural balance with a surplus.

Mexico ranks 11th in the world in food and agricultural crop production, and has high agrovoltaic potential, with 20 million hectares planted and more than 10,000 megawatts of solar energy. Infographic: Sader

The country is highly vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis, such as drought, rising temperatures and the spread of pests.

As a result, producers of maize, beans, wheat, coffee and other traditional products are already suffering the impacts of phenomena such as this year’s acute water shortages, and will suffer even more negative impacts in the long term, with consequences for quality of life, income and the rural environment.

Latin America’s second largest economy has around six million rural production units, of which 75% are less than five hectares in size and only 6% have more than 20 hectares, supporting some 20 million people.

In addition, 79% of electricity generation depends on fossil fuels, followed by wind (7%), photovoltaic (4.5%), hydroelectric (4.4%) and nuclear (3.7%). According to the Electricity Transition Law, the country should generate 35% of its electricity from alternative sources by 2024, but this is a distant goal.

The administration of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which began in December 2018 and will end on 1 October, put the brakes on energy transition in order to strengthen the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission, which burns gas for electricity generation, and Petróleos Mexicanos, thus favouring fossil fuels.

The country has agrovoltaic potential, with 20 million hectares of land under cultivation and more than 10,000 megawatts of photovoltaic power, 70% of which is in extensive facilities.

In the town of San Miguel Topilejo, in the south of Mexico City, the Sustainable and Educational Agrovoltaic Plot consists has ten crops sheltered under solar panels using drip irrigation. Credit: Emilio Godoy / IPS

Hybrid experiments

At a height of four metres, six modules of photovoltaic panels capture solar energy which, after passing through a converter, will be transformed into electricity.  Sheltered by them, 24 beds house pumpkin, lettuce and tomato crops, which benefit from protective shade, and rainwater and night dew caught by the panels.

This takes place in the Sustainable and Educational Agrovoltaic Plot (Pase), located in a corner of the Center for Practical Teaching and Research in Animal Production and Health of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science of the public National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

The centre is located in San Miguel Topilejo, a town in the municipality of Tlalpan, in the south of Mexico City.

At the facility visited by IPS, on the other side of a dirt road, stalled cattle graze while the photovoltaic system waits for the overcast skies to open up and bathe them in the sun’s nourishing rays.

On one side of the plot there are six more open-air beds to compare the results with those protected by the panels.

During an earlier tour of the facility, Aarón Sánchez, an academic at the Unam’s Institute of Renewable Energies and coordinator of the plot, explained that they are studying how crops develop under a photovoltaic roof that generates electricity.

He explained that they analyse their performance when there is a transpiration process in the lower part of the crops themselves, and the modules work at a lower temperature and higher efficiency.

Inaugurated in 2023, the Pase aims to increase the quality and quantity of agricultural products, generate green energy, reduce water consumption, and socialise new technologies among farmers.

The plot, which has a rainwater harvesting system with a 145 cubic metre tank to feed the drip irrigation system and temperature and humidity sensors, also involves the Mexico City government’s Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation.

An international consortium of institutions from the United States, France, Israel, Kenya, Morocco and Mexico is also participating.

Back in Sonora, Molina and Peón called for more support to expand the systems.

“We can ask for more support, because some families in the community have not had access to the agrovoltaic garden. Hopefully the project can be continued”, the community photovoltaic expert said.

Peón believes the results are promising, but much remains to be done.

“We hope that there will be a federal programme to support indigenous peoples. There has to be a change in the rules of the game (for people to generate their own energy in greater volumes),” he said.

“There needs to be synergy between the energy and agricultural sectors, so that we can see large-scale projects”, he added.

By Umar Manzoor Shah
SRINAGAR, India, Sep 26 2024 – Abdul Hameed Sheikh sowed his crop, working tirelessly for days in his paddy field.

The 52-year-old farmer, from central Kashmir’s Budgam area, religiously irrigated his 3-acre plot to keep the soil well hydrated. He waited for the rain, but days passed and it didn’t come.

What did, though, was scorching heat—temperatures surged like never before.

Every morning, Sheikh would walk his paddy field, noticing how the saplings had begun to turn into dry, dead twigs—slowly and definitively. As days passed, he noticed another worrisome trend. The land had developed cracks, generating dust as he passed by. 

“It was at that time when I was sure that the harvest wasn’t going to be as expected. The yearlong hard work is going to get wasted and I am completely helpless in such a scenario. This is utterly worrisome,” Sheikh told IPS.

This farmer was not alone in his worries. People in this farming district in the Himalayan region complained of extreme heat waves never before witnessed in Kashmir’s living memory.

“The temperatures touched even 40 °C here. In previous years, it would not cross even 32 °C,” says Abdul Salaam Malik, a farmer hailing from south Kashmir’s Shopian.

The protracted dry weather has stressed plants, said Professor Raihana Habib Kanth, Chief Scientist at the Faculty of Agriculture at Sheri Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST) in Kashmir. “The prolonged dry weather has caused paddy crop tips to burn and vegetable plant leaves to dry,” she told IPS, noting that 3–5 liters of water are needed to produce 1 kg of rice.

A recent study published in Science Direct, ‘Time series analysis of climate variability and trends in Kashmir Himalaya,’ notes the region is extremely sensitive to “even small perturbations in climate” and the “shifting pattern in precipitation could have serious environmental implications that will greatly influence the food security and ecological sustainability of the region if the same trends persist.”

According to the meteorological office, the region’s capital, Srinagar, recorded a high of 36.2 °C on July 28 this year. This was the hottest July day since July 9, 1999, when the mercury had settled at 37 °C.

Government records show that 60 percent of agriculture in Kashmir depends on rainwater. However, recent years have seen some of the driest seasons on record. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

A study conducted in the year 2019 revealed that Kashmir’s average annual temperature has increased by 0.8˚C over 37 years (1980-2016), with recent summers breaking temperature records.

As per the government data, on August 17, 2020, the valley experienced its hottest August in 39 years, reaching 35.7˚C. The following year, on July 18, 2021, Srinagar saw its hottest July day in eight years, with temperatures hitting 35˚C.

The summer of 2022 was even hotter, with temperatures surpassing 35˚C in some areas, and March of that year was the hottest in 131 years. In September 2023, Srinagar recorded its hottest September day in 53 years at 34.2˚C.

This warming trend persisted into 2024, marked by an unusually dry and warm winter. January 2024, according to meteorological reports, was among the driest and warmest in the last 43 years. On May 23, Srinagar recorded the highest May temperature in at least a decade.

Apple growers in Kashmir are facing heavy losses due to the lack of rainfall and extreme heat. The deficit in rainfall and persistent heat waves threaten the livelihoods of those dependent on this vital crop. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

The Himalayan region has long been known to warm faster than the global average. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) noted in its first comprehensive report on the region, published in 2019, that even if global warming is limited to 1.5˚C, the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) could see warming of at least 0.3˚C above this threshold.

A study published 2020 in Research Gate, ’21st Century-end Climate Scenario of Jammu and Kashmir Himalaya, India using Ensemble Climate Models,’ predicted that annual temperatures in Kashmir could rise by 4–7˚C by the end of the century, depending on future emissions.

The study noted that urbanization in Srinagar and other mountain settlements exacerbates heat, broader climatic changes remain the primary driver of rising temperatures.

Jasia Bashir, a research scholar at the University of Kashmir’s Centre of Excellence for Glacial Studies, told Dialogue Earth: “Urban areas feel intensified heat due to dense construction and reduced vegetation, but the entire region, including rural areas, is affected by the general [global] warming trend.”

Four fifths of Kashmir’s population is directly dependent on agriculture. The heat spell has left the farmers, including saffron farmers, wrecked.

Mohammad Ashraf Mir from Kashmir’s Pampore area shares his predicament, highlighting how the less rainfall and surging temperatures are compelling saffron farmers, including himself, to abandon farming forever.

Jehlum River in Kashmir shows drastically receding water. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

“The irrigation facilities are nowhere. The land has become parched to the core. We have invested much in this crop and what we are getting in return is an insurmountable predicament. The time is coming when we will have to abandon this farming and do something else for a living,” Mir told IPS.

According to government records, approximately 60 percent of Kashmir’s agriculture relies on rainwater for irrigation. However, in recent years, the Kashmir Valley has experienced some of the driest seasons on record. The Meteorological Department reports that, over the past three years, the region’s mountain ranges received just 172 mm of snow, a significant drop from the average of 622 mm.

One in a hundred irrigation schemes have been impacted by the dry weather, according to government officials in the Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) department. The Jhelum River’s water level has decreased as a result. According to them, the Jhelum River’s overall water capacity has dropped by 30 percent.

So what of the future?

According to a detailed report prepared by Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) released in 2023, the two biggest issues facing Kashmir in the coming decades will be water stress and biodiversity loss brought on by climate change. It says that the region’s fisheries, forests, animals, species richness and water resources are all seriously threatened by climate change. Twenty percent of the region’s recognized biodiversity is supported by the numerous wetlands in Jammu and Kashmir, which are negatively impacted.

Among other farmers feeling the heat are the apple growers of Kashmir.

Several apple growers told IPS that the rainfall deficit and heat wave conditions are wreaking havoc on apple production and will cause heavy losses to the people associated with the apple trade.

Fayaz Ahmad Malik, President of the North Kashmir Apple Growers Association, calls the situation “alarming.”

He explains that the ongoing heat wave not only hampers fruit growth but also heightens the risk of pest and insect infestations.

“Dry weather can cause an increase in pest populations, which is a major threat to our apple orchards. The lack of sufficient moisture impacts fruit development and makes the orchards more susceptible to various diseases,” Malik stated.

Agricultural experts stress the importance of timely irrigation and effective water management to counter the negative effects of the dry spell.

“In these conditions, it becomes crucial for growers to manage orchard irrigation. Farmers should prioritize constructing borewells in their orchards to ensure adequate water supply,” they advised.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 26 2024 – On the heels of the Summit of the Future and the sidelines of the United Nations High-Level Meeting Week, governments and philanthropies pledged to commit at least USD 350 million to boost family planning, sexual and reproductive health and supplies on the national and global level. As enshrined in the newly-adopted Pact for the Future, seeking new international finance models is critical to solving the issues that the world faces today. The decision to pledge forward is a demonstration of commitment to ongoing health issues.

On September 24, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Family Planning 2030 (FP2030) and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) invited prominent figures across the private, development and government sectors to promote political will on the matter of sustainable investments towards sexual and reproductive health (SRH). 

“Investing in reproductive health supplies is a ‘best buy’ for development, empowering women, improving maternal and newborn health outcomes, and uplifting economies,” said Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA’s Executive Director.

When speaking on UNFPA’s partnerships with the co-organizers, Kanem remarked: “What we’re doing is transforming lives. The life of a girl in her community, the life of an adolescent in her city, and empowering communities and families to be able to harness and take control of their futures.”

“So much of our world has been made possible by family planning,” said Dr. Samukeliso Dube, Executive Director of FP2030. “By enabling more women to shape their lives and futures, family planning has helped women to finish their education, join the workforce, ascend to leadership positions, and achieve their dreams.”

Donor countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Norway, and Spain, announced pledges to the UNFPA Supplies Partnership, which delivers modern contraceptives and maternal health supplies to women and girls in low-income countries. Through this partnership, UNFPA has helped to prevent 1.6 million child deaths, 254,000 maternal deaths, and 2.6 million unsafe abortions. The contributions to UNFPA could potentially save up to 9000 women and girls worldwide. As Anneliese Dodds, UK Minister for Development and Women and Inequalities, remarked, investing in SRH was “critical to making sure that women have the power.”

Speakers representing their countries’ governments pledged their support through domestic financial investments. The governments of Madagascar, Nepal, and the Kyrgyz Republic, for example, announced domestic financial commitments that would invest in SRH services in their countries.

Madagascar announced a contribution of USD 15 million to procure health supplies through UNFPA. Their minister of public health, Zely Arivelo Randriamanantany, added that their goal was to increase access to contraceptives by over 50 percent. Arzu Rana Deube, foreign minister of Nepal, announced the government’s commitment of USD 600,000 to purchase high-quality contraceptives. Renat Mavlyanbai Uulu, Advisor to the Minister of Health, of the Kyrgyz Republic, announced a commitment of USD 119,000 to domestic resources for family planning commodities.

Feri Anita Wijayanti, a registered midwife from Indonesia. Credit: UNFPA

As UNFPA Chief of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Ayman Abdelmohsen told IPS, the commitments to domestic financing are significant; it shows that in “allocating from their own resources… and [making] budgetary allocations,”  these governments will prioritize SRH without relying on foreign donors. It is in line with UNFPA’s compact agreements with 44 countries, through which countries will build up their capacity to provide comprehensive reproductive health through their own resources.

Despite the predicted growth in contraceptive access and maternal health by 2030, the current financing gap why this is still far off in the future. The gap currently sits at at least USD 1.5 billion in the world’s poorest countries.

Throughout the event, the speakers emphasized the ‘transformative’ power of SRH in countries. That to invest in SRH is to invest in girls’ and women’s’ agency over the health and life choices. In guaranteeing women’s sexual and reproductive health, it pays forward in protecting families and communities. In terms of financing, every dollar spent on family planning can yield more than 8 dollars in benefits for families and societies.

Investing in healthcare also goes forward to the practitioners within the sector. As Feri Anita Wijayanti, a registered midwife from Indonesia, explained to the panel, many communities rely on the expertise of midwives, whose responsibilities extend “far beyond delivering babies,”  for they are at the frontlines to address other health issues.

“Every second in every corner of the world, midwives work tirelessly to protect the lives of women and babies, and to provide sexual and reproductive health services,” she said. Midwives have the power to save an estimated 4.3 million lives each year by 2025. We urge you to invest in us, to believe in the transformative power of midwives and to begin by investing in sexual and reproductive health.”

The commitments made by countries and the private sector are a step forward in closing the considerable financing gap. They come at a time where senior leadership within the UN, namely the Secretary-General, has called for countries to explore innovative and sustainable financing to address global inequalities. The commitments made at this event demonstrate that despite the challenges to SRH, there is political will in support of, and it can be mobilized to ensure this care for all.

IPSNewsUNBureau
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In 2017, South African activist Nonhle Mbuthuma took a stand against the powerful oil giant Shell, halting their plans to explore the pristine Wild Coast. Despite facing death threats, she refused to back down. As a co-founder of the Amadiba Crisis Committee and a 2024 Goldman Prize winner, Mbuthuma continues to fight for her community’s […]

By CIVICUS
Sep 26 2024 –  
CIVICUS discusses the upcoming election of new members of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council with Madeleine Sinclair, New York Office Director and Legal Counsel at the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR).

The Human Rights Council plays a crucial role in addressing global human rights issues and serves as a platform for activists and victims of violations. Its 47 members represent different regional groups. In October, 19 states will stand for 18 seats, with the Asia-Pacific region the only group with more candidates than seats. Many of the candidates have poor human rights records, and one – Saudi Arabia – stands out for its extremely serious rights violations. Civil society calls on UN member states to reject Saudi Arabia’s candidacy and uphold human rights standards when selecting members of the UN’s top human rights body.

Madeleine Sinclair

Why is the election of UN Human Rights Council members important?

As happens every year, the Human Rights Council will soon renew one third of its membership through a secret ballot election. On 9 October, all 193 members of the UN General Assembly will vote for the 18 members who will sit on the UN’s main human rights body from 2025 to 2027.

Elections should provide an opportunity to elect candidates with a strong human rights record. According to the Council’s membership criteria, candidate states should demonstrate a genuine commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights through domestic and international action. They should also demonstrate a willingness to address emerging challenges and crises to ensure the Council’s effectiveness.

How competitive will this year’s election be?

Unfortunately, this election will be nowhere near as competitive as it should be, with only 19 countries standing for 18 seats. These seats are divided among the UN’s five official regional groups, each of which presents its own slate of candidates. But only the Asia-Pacific slate is competitive, with six candidates vying for five seats, while the other four slates are closed, meaning they have as many candidates as seats available. Africa has five candidates for five seats, Latin America and the Caribbean has three for three, Eastern Europe has two for two and Western Europe and Others has two for two.

This election is less competitive than last year’s, when 17 candidates contested 15 seats. Only Latin America and the Caribbean and Eastern Europe had more candidates than seats, resulting in the defeat of Russia. In 2021, all 18 candidates running for 18 seats were elected, receiving between 144 and 189 votes out of a possible 193, despite some having extremely problematic human rights records.

Unfortunately, non-competitive elections are common, with fully closed slates being presented four times since 2008. Other elections have seen only one or two competitive slates. The problem with non-competitive races is they deprive voting states of the opportunity to rigorously evaluate and select candidates based on their records and commitments, potentially compromising the quality of the Council.

But even in closed slates, it’s still possible for unopposed candidates to fail if they don’t receive at least 97 out of 193 votes. In 2023, for example, Burundi and China received the lowest number of votes in their regional groups, sending a message that their candidacies were not fully supported. ISHR encourages voting states to evaluate all candidates carefully and withhold votes from problematic ones, even in closed slates.

Who are the candidates in the October election?

Candidates in this year’s election include Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, The Gambia and Kenya from the African group. In the Asia and Pacific group, Cyprus, South Korea, the Marshall Islands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Thailand are running. Latin America and the Caribbean is represented by Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico. Iceland, Spain and Switzerland are the candidates from Western Europe and Others, while the Czech Republic and North Macedonia are running for Central and Eastern Europe.

This year, one candidate has a particularly poor human rights record: Saudi Arabia. It has closed civic space and has been repeatedly included in the UN Secretary-General’s reprisals report and accused by UN experts of committing war crimes in Yemen. Due to these serious concerns, we are actively campaigning against its election in the Asia and Pacific group.

What’s the role of civil society in this process?

Civil society, including ISHR, has a crucial role to play in advocating for a more effective and accountable Human Rights Council. One of the key areas where reform is needed is closed slates. Competitive elections are essential to ensure that only states with a genuine commitment to human rights are elected.

ISHR has created scorecards to assess and compare the candidates based on their history of cooperation with human rights mechanisms such as the Universal Periodic Review and their engagement with civil society, UN treaty bodies and special procedures. These criteria provide a solid understanding and clear overview of a country’s human rights record and therefore its suitability to sit on the Council. While we understand no country has a perfect record, these criteria aim to provide valuable insights into each state’s commitment to upholding human rights and its potential role on the Council.

In addition to our scorecards, our annual joint pledging event with Amnesty International provides a platform for states to present their candidacies, make strong, public commitments as potential members and receive direct feedback and critical questions from civil society. If all candidates participated in this event, it would increase the political cost of refusing to participate or failing to submit formal pledges and commitments. Such engagement would make it harder for states with poor human rights records to seek a seat without facing scrutiny.

What should be the Council’s priorities?

The Human Rights Council is vital in amplifying the voices of rights holders, victims and human rights defenders, providing them with a platform to expose violations and demand accountability. To fulfil this role effectively, its priorities must focus on being credible, effective and accessible. It should continue to focus on upholding international law universally, supporting the remote and hybrid participation of civil society and ensuring that demands for accountability are promptly addressed.

A credible and effective Council can only function if its members fully cooperate with its mechanisms and adhere to objective human rights criteria. At a time of increasing conflict and crisis, often rooted in repression and human rights violations, the Council’s role in promoting accountability and justice is more important than ever. States should support the work of human rights defenders, whose efforts to prevent violations, document abuses and provide essential services are essential to crisis resolution.

To address these conflicts, states must apply human rights standards consistently. Selective or inconsistent application of standards undermines the international framework and the credibility of those involved. International human rights law, when applied consistently and in a principled manner, remains the best guide to achieving a more just, peaceful and inclusive world.

Get in touch with ISHR through its website or Facebook page, and follow @ishrglobal on Instagram and @ISHRglobal and @Madeleine_ISHR on Twitter.

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By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 26 2024 – Sudan has been plunged into a deadly cholera outbreak in the midst of the Sudanese Civil War. Sudan is currently home to an approximate 15 million people, many of which have had to bear the brunt of hostilities between warring parties, widespread food insecurity, mass displacement, and extreme weather anomalies. Flooding, in particular, has been very damaging, leading to the collapse of critical infrastructures that ensure sanitation. This has caused the cholera outbreak to become a national concern.

On August 12th, Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health officially declared the emergence of a cholera outbreak. This is the second cholera outbreak observed in Sudan since the start of the war sixteen months ago.

Between July 22 and September 15, there have been approximately 8,457 cases of infections. Sudan’s Health Ministry reports that approximately 430 people were killed by cholera in the last month alone, emphasizing a rapid rise in infection rates.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), regions of Sudan that primarily host displacement shelters have been hit hardest by the outbreak.

Significant overcrowding and exposure to contaminated water by flooding have exacerbated the transmission of disease.

“The recent cholera outbreak has resurged after several weeks of heavy rainfall and resulting flooding. Risks are compounded by the continuing conflict and dire humanitarian conditions, including overcrowding in camps and gathering sites for refugees and Sudanese displaced by the war”, stated UNHCR Representative in Sudan, Kristine Hambrouck.

Despite these efforts, there have been significant access challenges for medical personnel and aid workers. The persistence of warfare in cholera-affected regions have raised security concerns and have greatly impeded critical routes for aid deliveries.

The medical charity, Doctors Without Borders, informed reporters that their current initiatives are “regularly obstructed by both warring parties, the humanitarian response remains far below what is needed”. They add that armed conflict has led to the collapse of Sudan’s health system, with pregnant women and children dying at rapid rates.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) adds that armed conflict has severely hampered vaccination attempts. Studies show that before the Sudanese Civil War, about 85 percent of the population was vaccinated, plummeting to 50 percent after the war. Areas that are plunged in conflict average about 30 percent immunization.

Furthermore, according to the Country Director for the World Food Programme (WFP), Eddie Rowe, due to heavy rains and flooding, it has been immensely difficult for aid trucks to pass through the Tina crossing at the Chad border, which is the direct path to reach Darfur, one of Sudan’s most vulnerable regions.

The United Nations (UN) is currently on the frontlines in severely affected areas, providing life saving medical assistance as well as critical resources to mitigate the spread. UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) are distributing oral rehydration packets and water sanitation tablets to mitigate the spread of cholera through drinking water.

UNHCR has set up treatment facilities in Kassala to provide the Sudanese with effective treatment and isolation for highly contagious patients. Furthermore, they are training healthcare workers, tracking the spread of infections, and conducting workshops and information campaigns to teach Sudanese civilians safe hygiene practices.

UNHCR estimates that approximately 1.5 billion dollars will be required to provide aid to Sudan and its neighbouring territories facing similar humanitarian crises. Currently, only 22 percent of that goal has been met. The UN urges further donor contributions as infection rates and civilian deaths are on the rise.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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