CAIRO (AP) — A cholera outbreak in Sudan has killed nearly 20 people and infected hundreds more in recent weeks, health officials said Sunday, in the African country hit by 16 months of conflict and devastating floods.
Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim said in a statement that at least 22 people have died from the disease and at least 354 cases of cholera have been confirmed across the governorate.
Ibrahim did not say when the deaths were, or how many there were so far this year, but the World Health Organization said 78 cholera deaths had been recorded in Sudan as of July 28 this year, and that more than 2,400 people had contracted cholera between January 1 and July 28.
According to the WHO, cholera is a rapidly progressing, highly contagious infection that causes diarrhea, leads to severe dehydration and can be fatal within hours if untreated. It is transmitted by ingesting contaminated food or water.
The cholera outbreak is the latest disaster for Sudan, which was plunged into war last April after simmering tensions between the army and powerful paramilitary groups erupted.
The conflict has turned the capital, Khartoum, and other cities into battlefields, destroying civilian infrastructure and an already-struggling health system, limiting access to basic medical care and forcing many hospitals and medical facilities to close.
The conflict has left thousands of people dead and pushed many to starvation, already evident in the vast, devastated camps for displaced people in northern Darfur.
The conflict in Sudan has created the world’s largest displacement crisis: More than 10.7 million people have been forced from their homes since fighting began, including over 2 million into neighboring countries, according to the International Organization for Migration.
According to the United Nations and international human rights groups, the fighting has been rife with atrocities that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings.
Devastating seasonal floods in recent weeks have added to the misery, killing dozens of people and washing away vital infrastructure in 12 of Sudan’s 18 states, local authorities said. The floods have forced some 118,000 people to flee, according to the United Nations migration agency.
Cholera is not uncommon in Sudan: a major outbreak in 2017 killed at least 700 people and infected around 22,000 in less than two months.
WHO spokesman Tariq Jasarevic said the outbreak began in the eastern state of Kassala and has since spread to nine districts in five states.
He told The Associated Press that data showed the majority of people with confirmed cases had not been vaccinated, and that WHO was currently working with Sudanese health authorities and partners to carry out a vaccination campaign.
Meanwhile, Sudan’s military-controlled Sovereign Council said on Sunday it would send a government delegation to Cairo to meet with U.S. officials as the United States steps up pressure for the military to take part in peace talks in Switzerland to find a solution to the conflict.
The council said in a statement that the Cairo meeting would focus on implementing an agreement reached between the army and the Rapid Support Forces that requires paramilitary groups to withdraw from people’s homes in Khartoum and other parts of the country.
The talks began in Switzerland on August 14 and were attended by diplomats from the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the African Union and the UN. An RSF delegation was in Geneva but did not take part in the meetings.
