Sudan’s Health Ministry has reported a dramatic surge in cholera cases, with 2,700 new infections and 172 deaths recorded in just one week — the worst spike since the country descended into civil war last year.
The ministry said on Tuesday that the vast majority of the cases — nearly 90 percent — were reported in Khartoum state, where access to clean water and electricity has collapsed due to intensified drone strikes by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
These attacks have further destabilised a city already crippled by over a year of fighting with the Sudanese army.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces’ assault on Port Sudan’s infrastructure marks a chilling escalation in Sudan’s civil war—one that threatens to collapse humanitarian operations, disrupt oil flows, and ignite regional instability.
Water crisis fuels disease spread
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the strikes targeted three key power stations, knocking them offline and cutting electricity to water treatment plants that serve the capital.
“Water treatment stations no longer have electricity and cannot provide clean water from the Nile,” MSF’s medical coordinator in Khartoum, Slaymen Ammar, warned.
Residents have been forced to turn to unsafe water sources, accelerating the spread of cholera.
Cholera, an acute diarrhoeal disease caused by ingesting contaminated water or food, is deadly but preventable. Without treatment, it can kill within hours. While the disease is endemic to Sudan, the ongoing conflict has sharply worsened conditions, turning sporadic outbreaks into nationwide health emergencies.
Health system on the brink
The war, now in its third year, has devastated Sudan’s already fragile health infrastructure.
The World Health Organization warns the system has reached a “breaking point,” while the Sudanese doctors’ union says up to 90 percent of hospitals have shut down at some point due to the conflict — many looted, bombed, or overrun.
Since April 2023, the war between the RSF and the army has killed tens of thousands, displaced more than 13 million people, and triggered what the UN calls the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis.
Cholera now adds another deadly layer to the suffering of a population trapped between war and disease.
