Sudan strained from cholera outbreak in Darfur, UNICEF reports
On July 3rd, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) reported that across the five states that make up the Darfur region in Sudan, at least 80 people have died of cholera and over 2,100 cases have been recorded, according to the Middle East Monitor.
“Across the five Darfur States, the total cholera caseload as of 30 July has reached nearly 2,140, with at least 80 fatalities,” said UNICEF.
In the North Darfur State of Tawila alone, 20 people have died due to the outbreak with 1,180 cases recorded since June 21st.
More broadly, since August 2024, UN figures show that across 17 of the 18 states that make up Sudan, over 94,170 cholera cases and over 2,370 deaths have been recorded.
A UNICEF representative for Sudan, Sheldon Yett, stated that “despite being preventable and easily treatable, cholera is ripping through Tawila and elsewhere in Darfur, threatening children’s lives, especially the youngest and most vulnerable,” with the organization warning that over 640,000 children are at risk of cholera in North Darfur, as well as violence and hunger- famine was identified in a displacement camp in Darfur in 2024.
Yett added that “the relentless violence is increasing the needs faster than we can meet them.”
The violence that Yett referenced is the civil war that broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces.
According to the United Nations, the civil war in Sudan has created the worst humanitarian disaster in the world. It was reported on June 4th that 4 million people have fled Sudan since the beginning of the war.
The war has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced 14 million, however according to the Middle East Monitor other research conducted at universities in the United States show the death toll to be much higher at around 130,000.
Yett has called for “safe, unimpeded access to urgently turn the tide and reach these children in need,” adding that “they cannot wait a day longer.”
Middle East Monitor/Maghrebi
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