By Ebi Kesiena
A deadly cholera outbreak in Sudan has claimed 172 lives and infected more than 2,500 people in just one week, health authorities confirmed, deepening the country’s ongoing humanitarian crisis.
The majority of cases have been reported in Khartoum and neighbouring Omdurman, but the disease has spread to other provinces, straining already fragile health systems amid a backdrop of war, displacement, and infrastructure collapse.
According to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Sudan coordinator, Joyce Bakker, Sudan’s healthcare facilities are overwhelmed, with many patients arriving too late to be saved, adding that the scenes in treatment centres are disturbing.
She explained that MSF teams alone treated nearly 2,000 suspected cholera cases in the past week, explaining that the true scale of the outbreak remains unknown.
The cholera surge, which began in mid-May, follows earlier outbreaks in White Nile State, where MSF had recorded 92 deaths and over 2,700 infections since February. The World Health Organization (WHO) has stressed the urgent need for clean water, sanitation, and rapid treatment to contain the waterborne disease, which can kill within hours if left untreated.
Transmitted through contaminated food or water, cholera causes severe diarrhoea and dehydration. The outbreak is compounding Sudan’s broader crisis, now entering its third year of war, with more than 20,000 people estimated killed since 2023 and over 14 million displaced.
Also, Sudan’s Health Minister, Haitham Ibrahim, attributed the latest spike in Khartoum partly to the return of displaced residents, which has placed additional pressure on the city’s already limited water supply.
The situation in Sudan mirrors a broader trend across the continent. According to WHO, 18 African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, and South Sudan, have reported cholera outbreaks since January, underlining the urgent need for a coordinated regional response and humanitarian support.
