BRAZZAVILLE, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) has released 8.3 million U.S. dollars from its Contingency Funding for Emergencies to assist the 10.6 million people in need of emergency health services in the Sahel region, the WHO regional office for Africa said on Friday.

With an estimated 33.2 million people grappling with the devastating impacts of armed conflict, insecurity, food insecurity, and displacement in the Sahel, the funds will help deliver crucial health services to populations living in displacement camps and sites as well as to those affected by disease outbreaks across six countries in the region, it said in a statement.

"Armed conflict and increasingly worsening impacts of climate change are exerting untold hardship on millions of children, women, families, and even entire communities across the Sahel," the statement said.

"We are committed to providing crucial health assistance to the affected populations and helping ease the deep deprivations they are facing," Abdou Salam Gueye, director of emergency preparedness and response at the WHO regional office for Africa, was quoted as saying in the statement.

The WHO will work to improve the treatment of malnutrition in Burkina Faso; strengthen cholera diagnostics in Cameroon; provide essential services to 100,000 people in Chad; deploy psychologists to all 10 regions in Mali; equip and train four outbreak response teams in Niger; and re-establish services in two hospitals in northeast Nigeria, which provide services to some 300,000 people, according to the statement.

Health indicators in the Sahel are among the worst in the world. The region has some of the highest maternal mortality rates globally, at 856 deaths per 100,000 live births due to poor access to maternal and reproductive health care, as well as a high prevalence of early marriage.

Armed attacks against civilians and public infrastructure, droughts, land degradation, and unpredictable weather are exacerbating the plight of millions of people in the Sahel.

In Burkina Faso, around 500,000 people have been displaced by armed violence in 2021. In Mali, a quarter of health services are still disrupted due to the impact of COVID-19. Cameroon is grappling with a cholera outbreak, while Chad is facing a yellow fever outbreak, according to the WHO. Endtiem

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