The World Health Organisation says the cholera outbreak in Sudan could get worse as displacement, and the onset of the rainy season poses more risk factors.
The cholera outbreak declared on June 27, which has killed at least 114 people and infected more than 1,300 others, is spreading across several Sudanese states, particularly in Darfur and Kordofan, where access to aid and healthcare workers remains severely constrained, the WHO said.
“Cholera is back,” the WHO representative in Sudan, Shible Sahbani, told reporters in Geneva via video link from Libya.
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“There is (a) case fatality rate of 13.7%, which is extremely high, and of course, the rainy season is expected to worsen the situation,” Sahbani added.
Cholera is a severe and potentially fatal diarrhoeal disease that spreads quickly when sewage and drinking water are not adequately treated.
Sudan faces a humanitarian emergency, with more than 33 million people in need of assistance and 21 million requiring health services, according to the WHO.
Sahbani expressed particular concern about the situation in the city of al-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, where health facilities are overwhelmed and humanitarian access is difficult amid intensifying fighting between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, RSF.
Reuters/Shakirat Sadiq
