 "War is a disease: From cholera in Sudan to polio in Gaza, conflicts risk reviving deadly epidemics the world over")
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by intense conflict, leading to one of the largest displacements of people globally.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported that more than 10 million people have been displaced within Sudan, with over half the population facing hunger.
More than 755,000 are at risk of famine, and the conflict has taken a severe toll on the country’s infrastructure, including health facilities and water services, worsening the already fragile health system.
Resurgence of cholera in Sudan
Amid this severe crisis, cholera has resurged in the country.
On July 1, Sudan’s Ministry of Health reported a major cholera outbreak, with over 11,000 confirmed cases and 316 deaths, marking the first outbreak since the war began, a recent Lancet report said.
The attack rate was 4.4 per 100,000 population, and the case fatality rate was 2.8 per cent. The outbreak affected both males (51 per cent) and females (49 per cent) almost equally, with children under the age of 5 accounting for 16 per cent of cases.
Experts said that the resurgence of cholera in the African nation was driven primarily by two factors: the effects of war on health systems and climate change.
The fragile health system, as well as increased human mobility due to displacement, cholera spread to multiple states, including Khartoum, Al Jezirah, Geadref, Red Sea, North Kordofan, Northern, White Nile, Sennar, and River Nile.
Impact Shorts
View AllA worldwide trend
The rise in cholera cases in Sudan is part of a troubling trend of deteriorating health conditions in conflict zones worldwide.
In Gaza, polio has re-emerged for the first time in 25 years, as the war has left much of the region’s medical infrastructure in ruins.
Gaza’s sewage system has been largely destroyed, causing human waste to accumulate near densely populated areas, further spreading the polio virus.
In Ukraine, Russian airstrikes have devastated the country’s energy and health infrastructure, leaving millions vulnerable as winter approaches. A report from The Lancet last month accused Russia of employing “double-tap” airstrikes—an initial attack followed by a second strike in the same location, targeting emergency responders and civilians arriving to help.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed 1,973 attacks on health facilities, transport, staff, and patients in Ukraine since February 2022, the highest number of such incidents the agency has ever recorded in a humanitarian crisis.
With inputs from agencies
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