KHARTOUM, Sudan: Outbreaks of dengue fever and cholera have been reported in eastern Sudan, where thousands of people are sheltering as deadly fighting grinds on between the country’s military and a rival paramilitary force, the UN health agency said on Tuesday.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been 162 suspected cholera cases admitted to hospitals in the province of Qadarif and other areas along the border with Ethiopia. Eighty cases have been confirmed and 10 people have died of cholera, a bacterial infection linked to contaminated food or water, WHO said.
Sudan descended into turmoil in mid-April when longstanding tensions between the military and a formidable paramilitary group escalated into full-blown warfare, spreading across the nation, including the capital, Khartoum, and eastern regions.
To address the cholera outbreak, the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders has established two treatment centers and deployed two mobile medical teams in Qadarif. Additionally, the UN health and refugee agencies have renovated a cholera isolation center at the Qadarif Teaching Hospital, the primary medical facility in the province. Cholera outbreaks are not unusual in impoverished Sudan, with the most recent major outbreak in 2017 resulting in at least 700 deaths and approximately 22,000 illnesses in under two months.
In addition to cholera, WHO has reported over 500 suspected cases of dengue fever throughout Sudan, with the majority of cases concentrated in urban centers within Qadarif. Dengue fever is caused by the dengue virus, which is transmitted to humans through mosquito bites. The reported figures are believed to represent only a fraction of the actual cases, as many patients resort to home remedies and avoid seeking treatment at hospitals, as stated by WHO.
The Sudanese doctors union has raised alarm, asserting that “hundreds” of dengue patients have succumbed to the disease in the eastern part of the country, labeling the outbreak as a “health crisis.” However, specific details and timeframes for these fatalities were not provided. The union also noted that most hospitals in Qadarif have been overwhelmed by the surge in patients.
The protracted conflict in Sudan has transformed Khartoum and other urban areas into battlefields, resulting in the destruction of civilian infrastructure and further crippling an already fragile healthcare system. Due to the lack of essential resources, numerous hospitals and medical facilities have been forced to close their doors.
According to the United Nations, the ongoing conflict has claimed the lives of at least 5,000 people and left over 12,000 others injured, although the actual figures are likely higher. The UN refugee agency recently reported that in the past five months, more than 1,200 children under the age of 5 have perished in nine refugee camps in Sudan due to a deadly combination of measles and malnutrition. The crisis has forced over 5.2 million people to flee their homes, including more than 1 million who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.
Approximately, half of Sudan’s population, around 25 million individuals, is in dire need of humanitarian assistance, with roughly 6.3 million teetering on the brink of famine, according to UN humanitarian officials.
