Cholera, measles, food shortages put 200,000 at risk in Sudan’s North Kordofan: Medics

More than 200,000 people, including over 20,000 children, are facing a worsening humanitarian and public health crisis in western Bara in Sudan’s North Kordofan State amid cholera and measles outbreaks and acute shortages of food and medicine, a Sudanese medical group warned Sunday, Anadolu reports.

“More than 200,000 people, including over 20,000 children, are facing extremely harsh humanitarian conditions due to severe shortages of food and medicine, compounded by outbreaks of measles and cholera,” the Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement.

The group said more than 100 cases of measles have been recorded among children at several health centers in Bara, in addition to 45 cholera cases, amid a sharp decline in health services and the absence of essential medical supplies.

It said several health facilities, including Tayba al-Zaatari Hospital and Umm Kuraidim Hospital, are currently operating without any medical supplies.

The network warned that the continued disruption of medical and food supplies and the prevention of humanitarian aid from reaching the area “portend a humanitarian and health catastrophe that could increase mortality rates, particularly among children and the most vulnerable groups.”

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It appealed to the UN, humanitarian and relief organizations, and health authorities to intervene urgently by delivering medicines, intravenous fluids, vaccines, medical supplies, food and safe drinking water “to contain the spread of disease and save the lives of thousands of civilians.”

On Tuesday, Sudan’s Health Ministry announced that 911 cholera cases, including 127 deaths, had been recorded in the states of North and West Kordofan.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have controlled Bara and the surrounding villages to its west since March.

Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the army and the RSF over plans to integrate the paramilitary force into the military. The war has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, killing tens of thousands and displacing nearly 13 million.

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