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Changes in Mortality Rates and Humanitarian Conditions in Darfur, Sudan 2003–2007

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Richard Garfield  and
Jonny Polonsky
Richard Garfield*
Affiliation:
Henrik H. Bendixen Professor of Clinical International Nursing, School of Nursing, Columbia University, New York City, New York, USA Visiting Professor, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Jonny Polonsky
Affiliation:
Epidemiologist, Health and Nutrition Tracking Service (HNTS), Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
*
Columbia University, 617 West 168th Street, Room 262, New York, New York 10032, USA E-mail: rmg3@columbia.edu
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Abstract

The Darfur region of Sudan has been an intense focus of humanitarian concern since rebellions began there early in 2003. In 2004, the US Secretary of State declared that conflict in Darfur represented genocide. Since 2003, many sample surveys and various mortality estimates for Darfur have been made. Nonetheless, confusion and controversy surrounding mortality levels and trends have continued. For this project, results were reviewed from the highest quality field surveys on mortality in Darfur conducted between 2003 and 2008. Trend analysis demonstrated a dramatic decline in mortality over time in Darfur. By 2005, mortality levels had fallen below emergency levels and have continued to decline. Deaths directly due violence have declined as a proportion of all of the deaths in Darfur. Declining mortality in Darfur was not associated with other proximate improvements in well-being, such as improved nutrition. Without large-scale, humanitarian intervention, continuing high rates of mortality due to violence likely would have occurred. If mortality had continued at the high rate documented in 2004, by January 2009, there would have been 330,000 additional deaths. With the humanitarian assistance provided through the United Nations and non-governmental organizations, these people are alive today. A focus on excess deaths among non-combatants may draw attention away from other needs, such as establishing better security, improving service delivery to the displaced, and advocating for internally displaced persons to be reached today and to re-establish their lives and livelihoods tomorrow.

Keywords

crude mortality rateDarfurhumanitariansurveyunder-five mortality rate
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 25 , Issue 6 , December 2010 , pp. 496 - 502
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2010

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