Darfur cholera cases rising at an 'alarming' rate as death toll in Sudan tops 3,000, says WHO

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GENEVA (AP) — The number of reported cholera cases is increasing in Darfur and more than 3,000 people across all of Sudan have died from the illness over the last 14 months of civil war, the U.N. health agency said Tuesday.

The current outbreak of the bacterial infection caused by contaminated food or water has spread to all 18 states in the war-torn country after erupting in Kassala state in July last year, the World Health Organization said.

Hala Khudari, its deputy representative in Sudan, said WHO has launched a vaccination campaign targeting 406,000 people in North Darfur State that comes “as cholera cases in Darfur continue to rise at an alarming rate – at an alarming fatality rate, to be specific.”

As of Sunday, some 12,739 cases and 358 deaths have been reported in more than half of Darfur localities, she said. The outbreak reached Darfur state in western Sudan in May.

“Reported cases in Darfur continue to increase amid severe access constraints that are impeding the required scale of response,” Khudari told reporters in Geneva by video from Port Sudan.

The conflict between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group erupted in April 2023 in Khartoum before spreading across the country. The civil war has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced as many as 12 million others, U.N. officials have said.

Both sides have been accused of committing atrocities like ethnic cleansing, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence against civilians, including children. Meanwhile, many people across Sudan have been pushed to the brink of famine.

The conflict and increased movements of people who have fled the fighting have limited access to basic services like clean water, food and health care.

Overall, more than 113,600 cases and over 3,000 deaths have been reported from across the country, reaching a fatality ratio of 2.7%, well above the 1% target threshold, Khudari said.