<
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/aug/14/sudan-cholera-outbreak-water-health-medecins-sans-frontieres-msf-war-refugees>
"The “worst cholera outbreak in years” has killed at least 40 people in the
last week in Sudan, according to the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières.
Overwhelmed medical centres are resorting to treating patients on mattresses on
the floor, MSF said, as the country’s two-year civil war aids the spread of the
disease.
Sylvain Penicaud, MSF project coordinator in Tawila, North Darfur state, said
families in displacement and refugee camps often had no choice but to drink
dirty water, the main cause of cholera.
“Just two weeks ago, a body was found in a well inside one of the camps. It was
removed, but within two days, people were forced to drink from that same water
again,” he said.
Sudan’s cholera outbreak was first confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Health
a year ago, and there have since been more than 99,700 suspected cases and more
than 2,470 related deaths.
The disease is spreading as people flee fighting, and being worsened by heavy
rains, which contaminate water and overwhelm sewage systems, public health
leaders said.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the public health agency
of the African Union, has repeatedly raised concerns about the spread of
cholera on the continent, which as of May accounted for 60% of cholera cases
and 93.5% of related deaths globally. Vulnerable and conflict-affected states
such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, as well as Sudan,
are among the worst affected.
MSF said its teams in Tawila, working with the local health ministry, had
treated more than 2,300 cholera patients last month. The hospital’s 130-bed
treatment centre had to accommodate 400 patients in the first week of August.
About 380,000 people have arrived in the small town since April as they flee
fighting around the city of El Fasher and Zamzam camp, according to UN records.
While the World Health Organization says that during an emergency people need
at least 7.5 litres of water a day for drinking, cooking and hygiene, people in
Tawila must survive with an average of only three.
RSF fighters overran the camp on 11 April. The true extent of the death toll is
not yet known, but is suspected to be in the thousands.
MSF said water shortages across Darfur made it “impossible to follow essential
hygiene measures, such as washing dishes and food”.
Cholera treatment centres in other towns and regions were also being
“overwhelmed”, it said."
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
