Key points
- War, displacement worsen access to clean water
- Over 2,300 treated in Darfur
- Heavy rains spread disease rapidly
ISLAMABAD: At least 40 people have died in Sudan’s Darfur region in the country’s worst cholera outbreak in years, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday.
The medical charity said the vast western region had been hardest hit by the year-old outbreak, according to AFP.
At least 40 people have died in Sudan’s Darfur region in the country’s worst cholera outbreak in years, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday ➡️ https://t.co/9x9hTKikRa pic.twitter.com/DxcyTydJTb
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 14, 2025
“On top of an all-out war, people in Sudan are now experiencing the worst cholera outbreak the country has seen in years,” MSF said in a statement.
“In the Darfur region alone, MSF teams treated over 2,300 patients and recorded 40 deaths in the past week.”
The NGO said 2,470 cholera-related deaths had been reported in the year to August 11, out of 99,700 suspected cases.
Acute intestinal infection
Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that spreads through food and water contaminated with bacteria, often from faeces.
Cholera outbreak devastates Sudan refugee camps — in pictures https://t.co/FI7UEycRCZ pic.twitter.com/ptfoEX5MCD
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 13, 2025
It causes severe diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle cramps.
Cholera can kill within hours when not attended to, though it can be treated with simple oral rehydration and antibiotics for more severe cases.
There has been a global increase in cholera cases, which have also spread geographically, since 2021.
MSF said mass displacements of civilians had aggravated the outbreak by denying people access to clean water for essential hygiene measures, such as washing dishes and food.
“The situation is most extreme in Tawila, North Darfur state, where 380,000 people have fled to escape ongoing fighting around the city of El-Fasher, according to the United Nations,” MSF said.
Appalling conditions
“In Tawila, people survive with an average of just three litres of water per day, which is less than half the emergency minimum threshold of 7.5 litres needed per person per day for drinking, cooking, and hygiene.”
The United Nations warned on Monday that more than 60 people, primarily women and children, have died from malnutrition in a single week in the besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher, as the country grapples with spreading famine, violence, and a major cholera outbreak.… pic.twitter.com/bPvit9u9dl
— Sudan Tribune (@SudanTribune_EN) August 12, 2025
“In displacement and refugee camps, families often have no choice but to drink from contaminated sources and many contract cholera,” said Sylvain Penicaud, MSF project coordinator in Tawila.
Contaminated water
“Just two weeks ago, a body was found in a well inside one of the camps. It was removed, but within two days, people were forced to drink from that same water again.”
MSF said that heavy rains were worsening the crisis by contaminating water and damaging sewage systems, while the exodus of civilians seeking refuge was spreading the disease.
Cholera is rapidly spreading in Sudan, worsened by water contamination and corpses in the Nile, killing over 170 people and infecting over 2,500 in the past week https://t.co/XgNdHZbz1T pic.twitter.com/p0jRX1UE4w
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 4, 2025
“As people move around to flee fighting, cholera is spreading further, in Sudan and into neighbouring Chad and South Sudan,” it said.
International charities have warned that the spread of the disease, no longer contained within Sudan’s borders, might exacerbate similar outbreaks across the region, reports The New York Times.
The map locates Tawila in the Darfur Region of Sudan.
MSF’s head of mission in Sudan, Tuna Turkmen, said the situation was “beyond urgent”.
“The outbreak is spreading well beyond displacement camps now, into multiple localities across Darfur states and beyond,” he said.
