Sudan says cholera outbreak killed 172 people in a week

In the war-torn nation, the Sudanese Ministry of Health reported a rise in cholera cases, with 2,700 infections and 172 deaths in the past week.

The ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that 90% of cases had been reported in Khartoum state, where drone strikes have caused severe disruption to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been at war with the army since April 2023.

In the south, center, and north of the nation, cases were also reported.

Sudan has a long history of cholera, but outbreaks have gotten worse and worse since the war started, wrecking already fragile sanitation and healthcare infrastructure.

Out of more than 2,300 reported cases over the past three weeks, 91 percent of them in Khartoum state, the ministry reported last Tuesday that 51 people had died from cholera.

Before being completely pushed out of their final holdout positions in the capital last week, the RSF launched drone strikes across Khartoum this month, including on three power stations.

Water treatment facilities no longer in operation

According to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the strikes caused residents to turn to unsafe water sources and eventually put the local water network out of service.

According to Slaymen Ammar, MSF’s medical coordinator in Khartoum, “Waste treatment stations no longer have electricity and can’t provide clean water from the Nile.”

If left untreated, cholera, an acute diarrhoeal condition brought on by consuming contaminated food or water, can spread within hours. However, it can be prevented and treated with prompt medical care, sanitation, and clean water.

The World Health Organization claims that the conflict has brought the country’s already fragile healthcare system to its “breaking point.”

According to the doctors’ union, up to 90% of the nation’s hospitals have been forced to close at some point as a result of the fighting, with regularly targeted looting, bombing, and storming facilities.