Abéché, February 17 (Darfur24)
Health services previously provided to Sudanese refugees in the eastern Chadian city of Abéché by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have been allegedly suspended due to a funding shortage, a refugee spokesperson said Monday.
Mohamed Al-Nour, the official spokesperson for Sudanese refugees in Abéché, told Darfur24 that the agency informed refugee representatives at the beginning of January that it would halt medical support because of insufficient funding.
He explained that UNHCR had been providing free treatment for Sudanese refugees at Abéché’s main hospital, with complex cases referred to the capital, N’Djamena. The suspension, he said, has significantly worsened conditions for refugees, many of whom are now forced to pay out of pocket for medical care.
Al-Nour added that efforts by the Executive Office for Sudanese Refugees in Abéché to find alternatives have so far failed to resolve the crisis.
More than 11,000 Sudanese refugees are estimated to be living in Abéché, most of them having fled violence in the Darfur region. Additional thousands are hosted in camps, including Adré’s Abtengi camp and the Fershanna and Marra camps near the border.
According to humanitarian estimates, about 1.3 million Sudanese have sought refuge in Chad since the outbreak of war in April 2023, part of roughly 4.4 million people displaced to neighboring countries during the conflict.