Sudan confirms 57 cholera cases in Khartoum State

September 29, 2023 (PORT SUDAN)  – A Sudanese health official confirmed on Friday that 57 cholera cases have been recorded in the East Nile region of Khartoum State, including six deaths.

Last Tuesday, Sudanese Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim confirmed in a statement to Sudan Tribune that 277 cholera cases, including 19 deaths, had been recorded in Khartoum and Gedaref states.

Montaser Mohamed Othman, Director of the Health Emergency Department at the Ministry of Health, told Sudan Tribune, “As of yesterday, Thursday, the number of cholera cases in East Nile locality in Khartoum had reached 57, including six deaths.”

Othman denied reports of cholera cases in Omdurman’s Umm Badda and Karari localities. He also confirmed that the cases received at Ali Abdel Fattah Hospital in Al-Droshab, north of Khartoum Bahri, are cases of food poisoning only, according to the Khartoum State Ministry of Health’s Emergency Department.

On September 25, 2023, Sudan declared a cholera outbreak in Gedaref State, with 264 suspected cholera cases, four confirmed cases, and 16 associated deaths reported.

On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that investigations are ongoing to determine whether cholera has also spread to Khartoum and South Kordofan states, where increased cases of acute watery diarrhoea have been reported.

“A cholera outbreak can have a devastating effect in the context of a health system already overstretched because of war, shortages of medical supplies and health workers, malnutrition, and access challenges,” said Nima Abid, WHO Representative in Sudan.

Cholera is a rapid-onset bacterial infection that results in diarrhoea when individuals consume food or water contaminated with the Vibrio cholerae bacterium.

(ST)