Sudan: Cholera outbreak, over 2,700 treated and 92 dead
Infrastructure attack triggers outbreak in White Nile State, MSF supports ongoing crisis response
Since Feb. 20, when the latest cholera outbreak started in Sudan’s White Nile State, until March 5, a total of 2,718 cases have been admitted to the Ministry of Health cholera treatment centre at Kosti teaching hospital, which is supported by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Sadly, 92 of these patients have died.
This wave of cholera, a waterborne disease, was triggered by a mass power outage after the Rabak power plant was hit by a projectile from the Rapid Support Forces on Feb. 16, according to reports. This led the community to rely mostly on water procured from donkey carts after water pumps went out of service.
“Attacks on critical infrastructure have long-term detrimental effects on the health of communities in vulnerable situations,” says Marta Cazorla, MSF emergency coordinator for Sudan. “Warring parties must adhere to the rules of war and ensure that civilians and critical infrastructure are protected.”
The peak of this outbreak was between Feb. 20 and 24, as they are people rushed to the Kosti hospital in a state of panic. The influx of cases, most of them severely dehydrated, led to the hospital having to treat patients on the floor as the hospital and the cholera treatment centre ran out of space.
To get the situation under control, the White Nile State Ministry of Health coordinated the outbreak response at the community level by providing access to clean water, banning donkey carts from collecting water and raising awareness through health promotion. As well, the ministry also managed a cholera vaccination campaign during the week of the outbreak.
The MSF team worked with the Ministry of Health staff from Kosti teaching hospital and additional medical staff from Rabak hospital on case management, supporting with on-the-job training and supervision as well as providing incentives to the staff.
Additionally, MSF provided logistics support from Port Sudan, Kassala and Kosti, supplying 14 metric tonnes of medical items such as medicines and treatment kits, as well as over 25 tonnes of logistical items such as beds and tents to Kosti to assist the response and enlarge the size of the treatment centre. Moreover, the team provided clean water supply and storage as well as chlorination and infection control.
