In pictures : Oxfam in northern Sudan

This latrine under construction is one of thousands Oxfam has built over the past six years, greatly reducing the spread of diseases. An Oxfam engineer from Darfur warns, "After 6-8 weeks, many latrines will fill up and no longer function. Normally we would cover them, chlorinate them to remove bacteria, and construct new ones. Local volunteers can cover them up, but will not have materials to chlorinate them or build replacements. Without latrines, diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea are likely to spread."

Photo: Eva-Lotta Jansson/Oxfam America

In the next few months, the annual rainy season will begin in Darfur - a time when communities are most at risk from diseases such as malaria and cholera. Oxfam health workers say one of the biggest successes of 2008 was that, for the first time since the Darfur crisis began, there was not a single case of cholera anywhere. This year, however, the closure of health and sanitation programmes means the rains could bring disaster to people living in the camps.

Photo: Coco McCabe

In eastern Sudan, the rainy season often brings severe flooding. In 2007 communities in the remote region of Tokar lost nearly everything they owned – their homes, wells, animals, farms and possessions. Oxfam provided emergency shelter and water; distributed mosquito nets to protect children from malaria; and gave long-term support to recover farmland and replace animals. We have been helping communities prepare flood defences - but without ongoing support, communities will be increasingly vulnerable next time the floods come – potentially in just a few months time.

Photo: Alun McDonald

In Port Sudan, Oxfam supported schools in some of the city's poorest neighbourhoods – where people have arrived from all over Sudan after fleeing war and drought. According to one local teacher: "Oxfam provided this school with everything – they built the classrooms, they bought the books, the chairs and the desks. They even paid the expenses of some of our teachers. Without Oxfam's help we would not be able to operate, and hundreds of children in this area would never be able to go to school."

Photo: Alun McDonald

In the poorest neighbourhoods of Khartoum, Oxfam helped families lift themselves out of poverty, by providing small loans for people to start local businesses such as brick-making, carpentry, and vegetable stalls. One single mother who received a loan said, "I use the profits from my small shop to send my children to school. Without the loan I would never have been able to afford the school fees and my children would grow up uneducated like me." The closure of the small loans programme will hurt some of the city's poorest people.

Photo: Alun McDonald

Every month, Oxfam health workers distributed soap to families in camps and villages in Darfur. Getting children to wash their hands with soap can half the number of preventable deaths from diseases such as acute diarrhoea. Now some communities are warning that soap stocks will soon run out. In addition to the shortage of new latrines and the lack of safe water, diseases could quickly spread.

Photo: Alun McDonald

Oxfam's work in Darfur is not only about providing emergency aid. As well as security, one of the biggest challenges for people living in the Darfur camps is trying to make a living. Our livelihoods team trained young men and women with new skills to help them earn money to support their families, and to improve the standard of living in the wider community. In the past year, we have trained carpenters, masons, veterinarians and more. Training courses for hundreds more vulnerable people have now stopped.

More about Oxfam's work in Sudan

Photo: Alun McDonald