Over a million polio vaccines destroyed in Sudan: UN

STORY: More than 1 million polio vaccines intended for children have been destroyed as a resulting of looting in Sudan, the U.N.'s children's agency UNICEF said on Friday (May 5).

That's amid the conflict between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that broke out in April.

Hazel De Wet, deputy director of UNICEF's Office of Emergency Programmes, said a number of cold chain facilities had been looted, damaged, and destroyed in South Darfur.

The agency was in the middle of a series of polio vaccination campaigns in Sudan following an outbreak at the end of 2022.

UNICEF is among a number of humanitarian agencies reporting looting during the Sudan crisis.

The World Food Programme, for example, says it has lost between $13-$14 million of supplies.

Sudan's sudden collapse into warfare has triggered a humanitarian crisis.

Hundreds have been killed and thousands of refugees have fled into neighboring states.

On Friday, the Sudanese Doctors Union said 60 of the capital Khartoum's 88 hospitals are out of service.

It said one of the country's main maternity hospitals and the central medical supply warehouse had been looted and occupied.