Cholera outbreak deepens fears for children in Sudan's capital

A developing cholera outbreak in Sudan's war-ravaged capital has claimed 70 lives in two days, officials said on Thursday, as a UN agency warned that more than a million children are at risk in the city.

The Khartoum Health Ministry said it recorded 942 new infections and 25 deaths on Wednesday, following 1,177 cases and 45 deaths on Tuesday. The surge in infections is widely blamed on drone strikes by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that knocked out the water and electricity supply across the Nile-side capital.

The capital has been a major battleground throughout two years of war between the Sudanese armed forces and the RSF, which last week lost its last footholds in the capital's greater region. Two months ago, the army regained control of the heart of the capital, ending the presence the RSF had had there since the opening days of the war.

The Sudanese capital comprises three cities; Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri; Khartoum is the name commonly used to refer to the three combined.

Wartime destruction

Cholera, an acute diarrhoeal illness caused by ingesting contaminated water or food, can kill within hours if untreated. It is easily preventable and treatable when clean water, sanitation and timely medical care are available.

But the capital's health and sanitation infrastructure are barely functioning. Up to 90 per cent of hospitals in the conflict's main battlegrounds have been forced out of service by the fighting.

The federal Health Ministry reported 172 deaths from cholera in the week to Tuesday, 90 per cent of them in the capital. The disease is endemic to Sudan, but outbreaks have become worse and more frequent since the war broke out in April 2023.

Unicef, the UN agency for women and children, said in a Thursday report that 7,700 cases of cholera have been reported in the capital area, including 1,000 of children under five, since January this year. Cholera-related deaths numbered 185 in the capital over the same period, it said.

Risk to children

More than 1,700 people died of cholera in 12 of Sudan's 18 states since August 2024, when authorities declared an epidemic, said Unicef. The total number of cases stands at 65,200, it added.

It said the threat of famine looms over two areas in the capital: Jabal Aoulyah and Khartoum. The two are home to a third of the 307,000 children suffering from malnutrition, it said.

"Estimates point to more than one million children living in the worst-affected areas of the state of Khartoum," it added. Of these, 26,500 are suffering acute malnutrition. "For children weakened by hunger, cholera or any other disease can be deadly unless immediately treated," it added.

Aid agencies are warning that without urgent action, the spread of disease is likely to worsen with the arrival of the rainy season next month, which severely limits humanitarian access.

The war between the RSF and the army has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 13 million since it broke out. The displaced include at least three million who fled the capital.

Al Shafie Ahmed reported from Kampala, Uganda. AFP contributed reporting.