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Starvation in war-stricken Sudan “is almost everywhere”, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has told the BBC’s Today programme after visiting the country.<\/p>\n
“The situation in Sudan is very alarming… the massive displacement – it’s now the largest in the world, and, of course, famine,” director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.<\/p>\n
He said 12 million people were already displaced, adding that attention in the global community to Sudan was “really low” and race was a factor.<\/p>\n
Thousands of people have been killed since a civil war broke out in April 2023 between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).<\/p>\n
“Imagine: destruction, displacement, diseases everywhere, and now famine,” Dr Tedros told the BBC.<\/p>\n
He said he had recently visited a camp for the internally displaced people and a hospital in Sudan.<\/p>\n
“You see there many children skin and bone, emaciated.”<\/p>\n
Close to 25 million people – half of Sudan’s population – “need support”, Dr Tedros said.<\/p>\n
He stressed that Sudan “is not getting the attention it deserves”, and that was the case with other recent conflicts in Africa.<\/p>\n
“I think race is in the play here. That’s what I feel now. We see the pattern now.”<\/p>\n
Dr Tedros – who grew up during war in Ethiopia – said: \u201cEspecially in Africa, I think the attention is really, really low.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the sad part, because you see it repeatedly, not just in Sudan,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the smell of war, the image of war, the sound of war,” the WHO chief said.<\/p>\n
“From that, I can understand how it impacts others, and I remember my mother praying I survive a day at a time – growing up, survival of the day was a big thing, I see the same thing is Sudan and Gaza.”<\/p>\n