Sudan has formally declared a cholera pandemic

Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim, Sudan’s Health Minister, proclaimed a cholera pandemic in the country official on Saturday.

“The Public Health Laboratory’s laboratory test of watery diarrhea has confirmed that it is cholera,” Ibrahim stated in a statement.

About 316 individuals perished of cholera in Sudan, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The announcement was made shortly thereafter.

Dengue fever and meningitis infections were also on the rise, according to WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris, who reportedly stated in a media call on Friday that 11,327 cholera cases had been reported in Sudan, with 316 fatalities.

The WHO anticipates that the actual number of cholera infections is greater than what has been reported, she further stated.

Epidemic diseases, including cholera, malaria, measles, and dengue fever, have been transmitted since the Sudanese Armed Forces (Saf) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) went to war in mid-April 2023, resulting in the deaths of hundreds.

In the course of the murderous conflict between the Saf and the RSF, a minimum of 16,650 lives have been lost.

Most recent UN data indicates that an estimated 10.7 million individuals are currently internally displaced in Sudan, with an additional 2.2 million individuals seeking refuge in neighboring countries.