The World Health Organization has warned that shortfalls in aid will strike a severe blow at efforts to deliver essential healthcare services to millions of people in West Darfur and Southern Sudan.

Mohamed Abdur Rab, WHO’s country representative in Sudan, said, “We know that at the end of the year funding will dry up.” Such a turn of events could have “a significant impact” on the delivery of services to West Darfur’s four million people, 2.7 million of whom are displaced, and to eight million in Southern Sudan.

“We’re concerned that if that happens all the health actors, particularly WHO, will have great difficulty in trying to support the needs of displaced people for secondary and tertiary health care,” Dr Abdur Rab told reporters.

Many of WHO’s requests for health …