The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed concern over the increase in cholera cases over the last month by over 100 percent.

With almost 8,300 suspected cases and more than 200 deaths reported in nine states as of December 23rd, the situation is alarming, OCHA added.

The World Health Organization and Sudan’s Ministry of Health estimate there are 1,800 suspected cases of cholera in the Al-Jazirah state, where intense fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces displaced at least 300 thousand people this month.

The humanitarian community in Sudan is working to support cholera case detection and treatment and vaccination campaigns, but ongoing fighting is preventing response efforts and access to basic public health services, OCHA lamented.

Approximately two-thirds of Sudan’s population lack access to health care, and more than 70 percent of hospitals in conflict-affected areas are no longer functional, the Office said.

The humanitarian situation is deteriorating as the hostilities spread throughout the country’s second-largest city, Wad Madani, located about 140 kilometers southeast of the capital, Khartoum, and in the heart of Al-Jazirah state, also known as the granary of Sudan.

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