The humanitarian situation in Sudan is rapidly deteriorating, with the country currently facing one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises.
According to the Operative Information Center-OMM, Shible Sahbani, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative for Sudan, addressed the situation during a weekly press conference at the UN office in Geneva.
Sahbani stated that more than 33 million people in Sudan are currently in need of humanitarian assistance, with 21 million requiring urgent medical care.
The ongoing conflict has also led to a record number of internally displaced persons. Official data indicates that 13.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes. Of these, 9 million have sought refuge in safer areas within the country, while 4.6 million have crossed borders into neighboring nations.
In addition to armed conflict, infectious diseases pose a severe threat. Alongside outbreaks of dengue fever, malaria, measles, and hepatitis E, a cholera epidemic is spreading rapidly across the country.
Reports indicate that the cholera outbreak, which re-emerged on June 27 in West Kordofan, has since spread to North Kordofan, Central Darfur, and South Darfur. Sahbani noted that over 1,330 cases have been confirmed, resulting in 114 deaths. The mortality rate for cholera in the region stands at 13.7 percent, significantly exceeding the 1 percent safety threshold established by the WHO.
Experts are concerned that the epidemic will worsen during the upcoming rainy season due to the contamination of water sources. The WHO is currently coordinating relief operations and has dispatched 64 metric tons of medical supplies to combat the cholera outbreak.
The conflict in Sudan, which began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has claimed tens of thousands of lives and pushed the nation to the brink of famine. Sudan, located in Northeast Africa, has historically struggled with political instability, but the current civil war has exacerbated pre-existing vulnerabilities, leading to the collapse of essential infrastructure and healthcare services across the country.
