“Cholera is back and it’s affecting several statesmainly in the western part of the country, the Darfurians and the Kordofans,” said Dr Shible Sahbani, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Sudan.
The official briefed reporters in Geneva, reporting more than 1,330 confirmed cases and 114 deaths from the disease, which is preventable but can be fatal if not treated quickly.
Why this matters
- 114 confirmed deaths from highly contagious cholera so far
- Conflict still blocks life-saving health care and aid
- The rainy season is likely to make the outbreak much worse
- Millions are still displaced and very vulnerable
The true death toll is likely much higher, and aid agencies are deeply concerned that the disease could spread among the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled cities and rural areas in northern Kordofan.
The Sudanese state located in the center of the country is the epicenter of fighting between former allies the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Vulnerable to disease
The fatality rate for cholera cases is already “extremely high” at 13.7 percent and is expected to worsen as the coming rainy season sets in, Dr Sahbani explained.
Sudan is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with more than 33 million people in need; this includes 21 million in need of health services. Since the war broke out on April 15, 2023, at least 59,000 people have been killed.
Although some people have returned to states “where the situation is improving,” including the capital Khartoum, Dr. Sahbani that 13.4 million are still displaced; nine million in Sudan and 4.6 million in neighboring countries. In addition to cholera, existing disease outbreaks include dengue, malaria, meningitis, hepatitis E and measles.
“We are particularly concerned about the spread [of cholera] to El-Obeid in northern Kordofan, where access is very limited and where the fragile health system is under increasing pressure,” the WHO representative said. “Health facilities are overwhelmed there and access to care is very, very limited.”
Help boost calls
The agency has prepositioned enough health supplies for more than 25,000 people in El-Obeid “but I can admit that it is not enough”, said Dr. Sahbani. On Monday, WHO delivered 8.5 tons of medical supplies to Kadugli and Dilling in South Kordofan as part of an inter-agency convoy.
This was the first WHO shipment to reach Kadugli since December 2024 due to access blockages.
Dr. Sahbani echoed recent appeals by UN human rights chief Volker Türk to the international community to prevent further atrocities in El-Obeid and a repeat of mass killings in El Fasher when RSF forces entered the town last October.
“We are calling on our partners and donors to help us firstly to be able to access and secondly to be able to send enough supplies and enough facilities in El-Obeid. But we know that the situation there is very, very bad and it is getting worse with higher risk of disease outbreaks, malnutrition, violence, including violence against women and children.”
