A cholera outbreak in Sudan's capital has killed 70 people in two days, health officials said, as Khartoum battles a fast-spreading epidemic amid a collapse of basic services.
The health ministry for Khartoum State said it had recorded 942 new infections and 25 deaths on Wednesday, following 1,177 cases and 45 deaths on Tuesday.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a statement it was "gravely concerned by the alarming resurgence of cholera in Khartoum State and across Sudan", as the country continues to reel from what is already a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
War on people and infrastructure
With conflict raging and health infrastructure in collapse, the Ministry of Health has reported over 60,000 cholera cases and more than 1,600 deaths since August 2024. In the past month alone, hundreds of cases have been reported in Khartoum state, the statement from the IRC added.
“Sudan is on the brink of a full-scale public health disaster," Eatizaz Yousif, IRC’s Sudan Country Director said.
"The combination of conflict, displacement, destroyed critical infrastructure, and limited access to clean water is fuelling the resurgence of cholera and other deadly diseases. With the rainy season fast approaching, the need for immediate, coordinated action could not be more urgent."
The cholera outbreak has piled further pressure on an already overwhelmed healthcare system.
The federal health ministry reported 172 deaths in the week to Tuesday, 90 percent of them in Khartoum State.
Authorities say 89 percent of patients in isolation centres are recovering, but warn that deteriorating environmental conditions are driving a surge in cases.
Millions at risk
The surge in cholera infections comes weeks after drone strikes blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) knocked out the water and electricity supply across the capital.
The army-backed government announced last week that it had dislodged RSF fighters from their last positions in Khartoum State two months after retaking the heart of the capital from the paramilitaries.
Greater Khartoum had been a battleground for much of the previous two years, and suffered massive damage to housing and infrastructure.
The war between the paramilitaries and the regular army has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 13 million in Sudan, in what the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Up to 90 percent of hospitals in the conflict's main battlegrounds have been forced out of service by the fighting.
(with AFP)
