Delegation from

The Republic of the Sudan

Position Paper for the World Health Organisation (WHO)

The topic before the World Health Organisation is Addressing Women’s and Children’s Needs in a
Post-Covid-19 World. The Republic of the Sudan believes that this topic is essential to help vulnerable
communities properly recover from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic and looks
forward to discussing them at the upcoming conference.

I. Addressing Women’s and Children’s Needs in a Post-Covid-19 World

Sudan is alarmed that in 2020, over 23 million children missed out on essential vaccines – an
increase of nearly 4 million from 2019, and the highest number since 2009 according to UNICEF’s
Preventing a Lost Decade: Urgent action to reverse the devastating impact of COVID-19 on children
and young people (2021). Sudan is deeply concerned that at least 463 million children worldwide
were unable to access remote learning during COVID-19 school closures in 2020 according to the
UNICEF report Are children able to continue learning during school closures? (2020). Sudan is aware
that globally, women make up 70% of the healthcare workforce and are most likely to be front-line
health workers, especially nurses and community health workers and are disproportionately faced
with the risks of being exposed to a virus according to UN’s Policy Brief: The Impact of Covid-19 on
Women (2020). Sudan is cognizant that globally, 1 in 5 deaths among children under the age of 5 is
attributed to acute malnutrition according to the UNICEF Child Alert: Severe Wasting - An overlooked
child survival emergency (2022). Sudan is concerned that an estimated 43 per cent of all children
(349 million) who are below primary school entry age need child care, but do not have access to it
according to the UNICEF Annual Report: Responding to Covid-19 (2020). Sudan is deeply disturbed
that in the school year 2021/2022, only 62% of countries reported implementing psychological and
mental health support to students and 58% for teachers, with 80% of countries reporting implementing
strengthened water, sanitation and hygiene services, only 41% reported the same for nutrition
services according to UNESCO’s From Learning Recovery to Education Transformation Report
(2022).

Sudan commends the work of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation which aims to save
lives and protect people’s health, helps vaccinate almost half the world’s children against deadly and
debilitating infectious diseases, and works across the globe, helping vaccinate over 981 million
children worldwide by improving access to new and under-used vaccines and negotiating vaccines at
prices that are affordable for the poorest countries to remove the commercial risks that previously kept
manufacturers from serving them. Sudan supports the WHO Global Outbreak Alert and Response
Network, which aims to provide international public health resources to control outbreaks and public
health emergencies across the globe. Sudan highlights the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s
and Adolescent's Health that aims to end all preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths,
including stillbirths, by 2030, and improve their overall health and well-being. This includes a
monitoring framework with 60 indicators, to help countries and their partners promote accountability in
ending preventable deaths, ensure health and well-being, and expand enabling environments. Sudan
draws attention to the Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the implementation of
Sustainable Development Goal 4 which aims at mobilising all countries and partners around SDG 4:
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning and opportunities for
all by proposing indicative strategies which countries may wish to draw upon. Sudan draws attention
to the Security Council Resolution 2532 (2020) that acknowledges the critical role that women play in
COVID-19 response efforts, as well as the disproportionate socioeconomic impact of the pandemic on
women and girls, children, refugees, internally displaced persons, older persons and persons with
disabilities, calling for concrete actions to minimise this impact and ensure the full, equal and
meaningful participation of women in the response to the pandemic.

Sudan encourages Member States to model after the Sudan Emergency Safety Nets Project, which
aims to provide cash transfers and food support to food insecure households in selected project areas
of Sudan by giving families need-based unconditional cash and food transfers and monitoring,
evaluating and learning from the results of this initiative. Sudan supports the UNICEF Gateways to
Public Digital Learning initiative to ensure that every learner, teacher, and family can easily access,
find, and use high-quality and curriculum-aligned digital education content to advance their learning
and aims to help countries recognize and act on national, regional, and global possibilities to advance
education through digital cooperation and solidarity by mapping, describing and analysing existing
public digital learning platforms and content and helping countries create and strengthen national
learning platforms. Sudan recommends Member States to model after the Sudan Improving Health
Access and Systems Strengthening Project which aims to address the key health priorities of the
country like reproductive and child health, nutrition and cancer control and improve health knowledge,
access to health services, quality of health services and the functioning capacity of the health system
in the country by building up human resources for better healthcare services and demand generation
for the utilisation of healthcare services with the direct beneficiaries being around 5 million women and
4 million children. Sudan appreciates the efforts of the UN Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Programme,
which aims to help provide access to clean water and reliable sanitation in rural and urban areas by
empowering communities through public awareness and supporting schools to improve hygiene
facilities. Sudan highlights the UN Every Woman Every Child Initiative that aims to put into action the
Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent's Health and mobilises national action by
governments to address the challenges faced by them across the world by making them submit
regular reports and collaborating to achieve a common goal and UNICEF Sudan’s contributions to the
initiative by submitting regular Gender Equity Reports. Sudan draws attention to the Clinton Health
Access Initiative, which aims to save lives and reduce the burden of disease in low-and
middle-income countries by working with partners to strengthen the capabilities of governments and
the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without their
assistance.