U.N. Says Sudan Death Toll Reaches 70,000

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By WARREN HOGE
Published: October 16, 2004

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 15 - The United Nations health agency said Friday that the death toll in refugee camps in the Darfur region of Sudan had reached 70,000, and that people would continue dying at the rate of 10,000 a month as long as the international community did not provide more money.

David Nabarro, director of the crisis action group of the Geneva-based World Health Organization, said despite the international attention Darfur had attracted, the United Nations was not receiving the money it needed to curb deaths caused by malnutrition and disease.

"Every day in newspapers in the U.S., Europe and Japan, there is coverage of the suffering in Darfur, yet we don't have a significant enough popular perception around the world of the enormity of that suffering, and the United Nations cannot get the funding for this priority program," Mr. Nabarro said in a telephone interview.

The United Nations has received only half of the $300 million it needs, he said, while with full financing it could reduce the current mortality rate by half.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/16/international/africa/16nations.html

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