Mpox spreads to 11 areas in Jebel Marra with 347 cases reported, SLM warns of humanitarian catastrophe
May 21, Jebel Marra — The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdelwahid al-Nur warned on Thursday that mpox has spread to 11 areas in the Jebel Marra region of South Darfur, with 347 suspected cases recorded so far amid an acute shortage of medical personnel, medicines, and humanitarian access.
SLM spokesman Mohamed Abdelrahman Al-Nayer said in a statement that the outbreak continues to sweep through communities in the Jebel Marra highlands, with cases reported in Golo, Darbat, Jawa, Suni, Yara, Daira, Barta, Falqa, Faqouri, Surtonga, and Abu Naqa.
“The mpox epidemic continues to sweep through a number of areas in Jebel Marra in the absence of medicines and adequate medical care, with no meaningful response from the international community, the United Nations and its agencies, or local, regional, and international organisations,” Al-Nayer said.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced on Monday that it had recorded 80 suspected mpox cases in eastern Jebel Marra in South Darfur. The SLM said the total number of cases across all affected areas has now reached 347 and continues to rise.
The movement highlighted several compounding factors driving the spread: the absence of qualified medical personnel, a lack of medicines, difficult terrain making access to urban hospitals extremely difficult or impossible, and insufficient means of transport. It also warned that the area lacks adequate public awareness campaigns on the disease and how to contain it.
Jebel Marra and the Tawila locality together shelter approximately 700,000 displaced people, raising fears of a rapid and wide-scale escalation of the outbreak given population movement, overcrowding, and the absence of preventive measures.
Al-Nayer called for the immediate reopening and rehabilitation of health facilities that have been shut down due to shortages of staff, medicines, and equipment, including Darbat Rural Hospital and the health centres in Jawa and Suni, saying that restoring these facilities would help contain the disease.
He renewed an appeal to the United Nations, its agencies, and all humanitarian organisations to respond immediately, warning that continued inaction could trigger a humanitarian catastrophe threatening not only Jebel Marra but Sudan as a whole and neighbouring countries.
Mpox is a viral disease caused by a virus belonging to the same family as smallpox. Symptoms include fever, severe headache, muscle and back pain, fatigue, and swollen lymph nodes — the last of which distinguishes it from smallpox.