A widening cholera outbreak in war-torn Sudan now spans 13 states and threatens to spill across the border into Chad’s packed refugee camps, the World Health Organization warned Friday.
Dr. Shible Sahbani, WHO’s representative in Sudan, said 1,854 people have died since the latest wave began, with cases climbing sharply in Khartoum after drone strikes disrupted power and water supplies. The rainy season is expected to fuel further spread.
Sahbani urged temporary cease-fires to open humanitarian corridors for vaccinations, clean-water deliveries and disease surveillance. Without those steps, he said, “neighbouring countries—and possibly the wider region—will be at risk.”
Chad shelters roughly 300,000 Sudanese who fled two years of fighting between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces. Living in cramped, unsanitary border sites, they face a “devastating” threat if cholera arrives, said François Batalingaya, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator in Chad.
The disease has not been confirmed in Chad, though suspected cases are reported near Geneina, just 10 km inside Sudan. Surveillance along Sudan’s frontier with Libya is also weak, Sahbani noted.
An oral-cholera campaign launched this month has lowered fatality rates around Khartoum, but WHO says funding cuts and insecurity continue to hamper wider prevention efforts.
