Malaria has broken out among Sudanese in Darfur who lack clean water and latrines in squalid refugee camps, aid agencies said today.
Red Cross
The mosquito-borne disease comes early on in the rainy season, which has given insects a breeding ground, and follows a hepatitis epidemic reported earlier this week.
The United Nations estimates 50,000 people have died in conflict since fighting began in early 2003, while around 1.2 million people have been displaced and two million left short of food and medicine.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported outbreaks of diseases including malaria at sites including the Abshok camp near El Fasher in North Darfur.
"The main illnesses affecting the displaced population are diarrhoea, malaria and acute respiratory infections," it said in a statement, without giving figures. Cholera is also feared.
The World Health Organisation, which this week reported an epidemic of hepatitis E in West Darfur with 623 cases and 22 deaths, said dirty water and poor sanitation remained problems.
Under a Plan of Action agreed with the U.N. last week, Sudan pledged to set up safe areas for the displaced, disarm the Arab militias and cease military operations to ease what the UN has called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.