Residents of El Fasher and the nearby Tawila locality say a fast-spreading cholera outbreak is overwhelming clinics stripped of basic supplies, with people turning to home remedies as intravenous fluids and antibiotics run dry.
“I wore out my feet looking for anything to stop the constant diarrhea,” said Abdel-Hafiz Adam, who was trying to treat his mother with local herbs after finding health centers empty of medicines. He and other residents describe a “triangle of dread — hunger, disease and fear” amid a siege that has tightened around the city and hindered deliveries of essential medical supplies.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported 40 cholera deaths nationwide in a single week and called the current spread the worst in years, driven by the war. MSF teams said they treated more than 2,300 cholera patients in Darfur alone at facilities run with the Health Ministry.
At Abu Shouk camp for displaced families, a mother who gave her name as Umm Ahmed said her son died two weeks ago. “We couldn’t find treatment or an ambulance,” she said, adding that families drink from a shared well despite contamination because there are no alternatives. “Every day we hear of new infections and deaths.”
A doctor at El Fasher Teaching Hospital, who asked not to be named, said dozens of new cases arrive daily, mostly women and children. “The biggest challenge is the shortage of IV fluids and exhausted staff,” he said. Unsafe water, a lack of chlorine for disinfection and minimal public awareness have fueled transmission, while major hospitals have “collapsed completely,” he added.
The Darfur Displacement Coordination reported a cumulative 4,175 suspected cases and 73 deaths, including 77 new cases on Friday alone. Hotspots include Tawila, Jebel Marra, Nyala, Zalingei and Shaeria. Local tallies cited by the group list 114 cases in Tabra; 962 cases and 51 deaths in Golo (Jebel Marra); and 435 cases with 45 deaths in Kalma camp.
Darfur’s regional Health Ministry said deaths have surpassed 400 and total infections have exceeded 6,000 since the outbreak began months ago, warning the toll will keep rising without urgent intervention.
Matilda Fou, campaigns director for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Sudan, said aid teams are struggling to keep up with the surge, particularly in Tawila, and warned of rapidly accelerating infections in communities along the Sudan–Chad border.
