Sudan’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday that suspected cholera cases have been detected in four states as the disease continues to spread against the backdrop of the country’s worsening humanitarian crisis.
The announcement was made during a meeting of the Federal Emergency Operations Center in Khartoum, where officials reviewed the national public health situation.
According to the ministry, suspected cholera infections have been reported in North Kordofan, West Kordofan, South Darfur, and Khartoum states, although no figures on the number of cases were released.
The ministry also reported a decline in measles infections, recording 25 new suspected cases with no deaths.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the cholera outbreak was expanding across the Darfur and Kordofan regions after more than 1,330 cases and 114 deaths were reported, cautioning that the toll was likely to rise.
The WHO has described Sudan as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, estimating that more than 33 million people require humanitarian assistance, including 21 million in need of healthcare. The agency says 13.4 million people have been displaced, including 9 million internally and 4.6 million who have fled to neighbouring countries.
On July 5, the Sudan Doctors Network warned that more than 200,000 people, including 20,000 children, in areas west of Bara in North Kordofan were facing catastrophic humanitarian and health conditions due to the spread of cholera and measles, compounded by severe shortages of food and medicine.
Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over plans to integrate the paramilitary group into the military. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions, creating one of the world’s most severe humanitarian emergencies.