Sudan reports suspected cholera cases in 4 states

Sudan's Health Ministry announced Tuesday that suspected cholera cases have been detected in four states as the disease continues to spread amid the country's worsening humanitarian crisis caused by the ongoing war.

The announcement came during a meeting of the Federal Emergency Operations Center in Khartoum, where officials reviewed the country's public health situation, according to a ministry statement.

The ministry said suspected cholera cases were recorded in North Kordofan, West Kordofan, South Darfur, and Khartoum states, but did not disclose the number of infections.

It also reported a decline in measles infections, with 25 new suspected cases recorded and no deaths.

On July 10, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the cholera outbreak was expanding across the Darfur and Kordofan regions after 114 deaths and more than 1,330 cases were reported, adding that the toll was likely to rise.

The WHO has described Sudan as the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with more than 33 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, including 21 million requiring health services. It said 13.4 million people have been displaced, including 9 million internally and 4.6 million in neighboring countries.

On July 5, the Sudan Doctors Network said more than 200,000 people, including 20,000 children, in areas west of the city of Bara in North Kordofan were facing catastrophic humanitarian and health conditions due to the spread of cholera and measles, compounded by severe shortages of medicine and food supplies.

In addition to Darfur and Blue Nile state in southeastern Sudan, fierce fighting has continued in the three Kordofan states North, West, and South between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since Oct. 25 last year.

Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the army and the RSF over plans to integrate the paramilitary force into the military. The war has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing millions more.