A cholera outbreak in Sudan has claimed the lives of nearly two dozen people and left hundreds more ill in recent weeks, according to health authorities on Sunday. The African nation is already grappling with the effects of a 16-month conflict and severe flooding.
In a recent statement, Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim confirmed that cholera has resulted in at least 22 deaths and 354 confirmed cases across Sudan.
He did not specify the timeline for these figures, but the World Health Organisation reported that by July 28, cholera had claimed 78 lives and infected more than 2,400 individuals in Sudan this year.
Cholera is a rapidly spreading, highly contagious disease that causes severe dehydration and can lead to death within hours if untreated, typically spreading through infected food or water.
Sudan’s cholera outbreak is yet another disaster for a country already in turmoil since April last year when rising tensions between the military and a powerful paramilitary group erupted into full-scale war.
The ongoing conflict in Sudan has transformed Khartoum and other cities into war zones, devastating civilian infrastructure and collapsing an already fragile healthcare system. Hospitals are shuttered, unable to operate without essential supplies.
The violence has claimed thousands of lives and driven many to the brink of starvation, with famine declared in a large displaced persons camp in Darfur.
This crisis has led to the world’s largest displacement, with over 10.7 million people forced to leave their homes, including more than 2 million who have sought refuge in neighboring countries.
The conflict in Sudan has been characterised by horrific atrocities, including mass rapes and ethnically driven killings, which the U.N. and human rights groups classify as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Recent severe floods have added to the country’s suffering, killing dozens and destroying vital infrastructure across 12 of Sudan’s 18 provinces.
The U.N. migration agency reports that around 118,000 people have been displaced due to these floods.
Cholera outbreaks are not rare in Sudan; a significant one in 2017 resulted in at least 700 deaths and about 22,000 infections in under two months.
The current outbreak started in Kassala and has spread to nine areas across five provinces.
WHO spokesman Tarik Jašarević noted that most cases involve unvaccinated individuals and announced a vaccination campaign in collaboration with Sudanese health authorities.
Meanwhile, Sudan’s military-controlled sovereign council plans to send a delegation to Cairo to discuss peace talks with U.S. officials, responding to pressure to join negotiations in Switzerland aimed at resolving the ongoing conflict.
The Sudanese military-controlled sovereign council announced that the Cairo meeting will address the implementation of a deal requiring the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to withdraw from civilian areas in Khartoum and other locations.
The peace talks, which commenced on August 14 in Switzerland, involve diplomats from the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, the African Union, and the United Nations.
Although an RSF delegation was present in Geneva, they did not participate in the discussions.
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