Sudan’s General Coordination for IDP and Refugee Camps said on Wednesday that 137 new suspected cholera infections and four deaths were recorded across Darfur, bringing the region’s cumulative caseload to 10,662 suspected cases, including 423 deaths.
In a statement, the Coordination warned that the disease is spreading rapidly in and around overcrowded displacement sites and appealed to the World Health Organization and partner agencies to take “effective and urgent” measures to contain what it called a worsening health emergency.
Health workers and aid groups say the risk is aggravated by the war’s destruction of water systems and clinics, shortages of chlorine and rehydration supplies, and access constraints that slow surveillance and treatment. Seasonal rains and flooding have further contaminated water sources, they add.
Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal illness caused by ingesting food or water contaminated with Vibrio cholerae bacteria. Most patients can be treated with oral rehydration salts; severe cases require intravenous fluids and, in some instances, antibiotics.
Darfur has seen repeated waves of displacement since conflict escalated in 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, creating large, densely populated camps where clean water and sanitation are scarce.
The Coordination urged a scale-up of case management, safe water and sanitation services, hygiene supplies, and community outreach, and called for targeted support to displacement hotspots where the outbreak is accelerating.
Officials did not immediately comment on whether additional oral cholera vaccines or emergency stocks were being deployed to the region.
