Cholera Crisis Escalates in Sudan Amid Ongoing Civil War and Health Care Struggles

In Sudan, a nation already grappling with civil war and health care access challenges, the cholera outbreak is intensifying, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Wednesday. As of November 12, nearly 3,000 suspected cholera cases and 89 deaths have been recorded across seven states, doubling the count from just three weeks earlier.

The Federal Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) are actively responding to this health crisis. Efforts are underway to enhance detection and treatment of cholera cases, with vaccination campaigns scheduled to begin in affected regions by the end of November.

This health emergency is compounded by the fact that approximately two-thirds of Sudan’s population lacks adequate health care access. In areas afflicted by conflict, over 70% of health facilities are nonoperational. Since April, when the civil war erupted, there have been 60 verified attacks on health care facilities by the WHO.

The cholera outbreak initially emerged in Gedaref, an eastern state, and quickly spread to Khartoum, the capital located in the east-central part of Sudan. As the situation evolves, humanitarian efforts are being ramped up to mitigate the outbreak’s impact on an already strained health care system and vulnerable population.