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Last Saturday, Sudan’s Minister of Health Haitham Mohammed Ibrahim announced an outbreak of cholera in the country, the latest in a series of deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Sudan since the outbreak of armed conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces since mid-April 2023.
“The microorganism was isolated during one of the quarantines,” the minister said in a video clip released by Sudan’s Ministry of Health on its account with the federal ministry, the Kassala state ministry of health, UN agencies and some experts. “Laboratory tests confirmed it was cholera.”
This month, Sudan’s northern states were hit by flash floods, with large swathes of the country hit by the heaviest rains and flooding in years, causing huge losses of life and property. According to meteorologists, the country has been mapped for decades. The climatic conditions have worsened conditions for tens of thousands of families and led to the spread of diseases such as cholera and epidemics.
Sudan’s Ministry of Health announced that Kassala and Gedaref states in the east of the country are the states most affected by the cholera outbreak due to poor environmental conditions and undrinkable water. The number of cholera cases rose to 354 and the death toll reached 22 the day before yesterday (Sunday).
On the other hand, the minister said that the number of new infections in Kassala city has decreased, while the number of new infections in Khartoum state has slightly increased. He pointed out that the authorities have launched a campaign to solve environmental problems and provide drinking water. In addition, they have carried out education activities on health and epidemic prevention requirements in areas with severe epidemics.
He also stressed the need to communicate with the international community and UN agencies to request cholera vaccines, noting that WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is expected to arrive in Sudan next week to assess the health situation there. This is not the first time Sudan has declared a cholera outbreak since the outbreak of the armed conflict. Last September, an official cholera outbreak was declared in Gedaref state, and then suspected cases were reported in seven other states, while it is estimated that more than 3 million people are at risk of infection, according to a statement by the World Health Organization in November last year.
A statement issued last November by the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean regional director said the international organization was working with its partners and health authorities to accelerate the expansion of the response to avoid further outbreaks, which includes training doctors and paramedics to treat cholera cases and to prevent cholera infection and its control.
The statement said the organization has sent 3.2 tons of cholera treatment kits, including medicines, laboratory supplies and equipment, and provided full support to 10 cholera treatment centers in Gedaref, Al-Jazira and Khartoum states. On November 14 last year, a batch of vaccines arrived, including 2.9 million doses of oral anti-cholera vaccine for a campaign to be launched at the end of this month in six districts of Gedaref, later in one district of Al-Jazira and two districts in Khartoum. Sudan’s health sector in general has many problems, which have been exacerbated by the ongoing armed conflict between the army and the Rapid Support Forces.
Last April, the World Health Organization warned that Sudan’s hospitals were on the verge of collapse, saying that 70% to 80% of hospitals in states experiencing armed conflict could almost completely cease operations, either because of attacks targeting them or because of a lack of adequate support, medical supplies and equipment, and shortages of workers.
Prior to this, in particular, in late November 2023, the Director of the Eastern Mediterranean Region of the World Health Organization revealed in a statement that 11 million people in Sudan need urgent health assistance, while more than 20 million people face serious infection. Every child under the age of five in Sudan suffers from severe malnutrition. In March last year, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, confirmed that the health and humanitarian situation in Sudan was close to a “disaster” and called for increased humanitarian assistance.
Sudan’s Minister of Health Haitham Mohammed Ibrahim earlier confirmed that “the scale of damage and destruction in the country’s health sector is estimated at $11 billion”. He noted that “75% of 702 hospitals, including 540 hospitals affiliated with the Ministry of Health, are not functioning properly because they have been damaged and medical equipment, equipment and networks have been looted and pillaged. Hospitals in the Darfur region and the city of Hassa Hissa in Al Jazeera state have been completely destroyed.”
Earlier this month, the United Nations called on international donors to “urgently” increase financial support to prevent famine in Sudan.
In a statement, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Clement Nkoya Salami, stressed the need for urgent intervention given the experts’ confirmation of famine conditions in Sudan, calling on the humanitarian community to provide emergency resources and unhindered humanitarian access. The new report confirms local famine conditions in North Darfur.
“The ongoing conflict in Sudan has severely hampered the delivery of humanitarian assistance and has plunged the Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons in North Darfur into famine,” explains a report by the Integrated Temporary Food Security Classification Famine Review Committee.
Commenting on the report, the UN coordinator said it “reflects the gravity of the humanitarian situation on the ground” and stressed that “the continuation of the conflict has resulted in displacement, disruption of basic services, destruction of livelihoods and severe restrictions on humanitarian access”.
She noted that the United Nations and its partners have been working to expand their response over the past few months, “but the needs are huge and no time can be wasted,” indicating that donors must urgently increase funding and use diplomatic means to promote humanitarian access if they want to prevent the spread of widespread famine. Failure to do so will lead to more catastrophic situations.
She said famine conditions in the “Zamzam” camp for displaced persons, which persisted as of June last year and are expected to continue until October next year, suggest that people will face similar conditions in another area at risk of famine in the El Fasher region, in North Darfur, specifically in the “Abu Shouk” and “Abu Shouk” camps.
Clement Nkoya Salami also pointed out that Sudan is facing the most serious food insecurity situation, with more than half of the country’s population suffering from severe hunger, including more than 8.5 million people facing emergency levels of hunger, and more than 755,000 people facing hunger in Sudan. Other regions such as Darfur, North Kordofan, Blue Nile, Jazira and the capital Khartoum are also experiencing catastrophic situations.
Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingesting food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The disease causes diarrhea and severe dehydration that can lead to death within hours, according to the World Health Organization.
The World Health Organization said that between the beginning of this year and July 28, 307,433 cases of cholera and 2,326 deaths were reported in 26 countries.
The United Nations estimates that more than 10.7 million people have been displaced within Sudan, while the number of refugees abroad has reached about 2.3 million, due to the ongoing fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces since April 2023. According to the International Organization for Migration, children make up 50% of the country’s internally displaced people, and their living conditions are extremely difficult.
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