By Bunmi Yekini
A severe cholera outbreak has overwhelmed health facilities in Sudan’s White Nile State, with at least two dozen deaths and over 800 people currently receiving treatment for acute watery diarrhoea, dehydration, and vomiting.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which has been supporting cholera-related responses in Kosti and Rabak Hospitals since October, reported that the sudden surge began Wednesday night when 100 patients arrived at the Ministry of Health’s cholera treatment centre in Kosti Teaching Hospital. By Friday afternoon, admissions had soared past 800.
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“The situation is really alarming and is about to get out of control,” said Dr Francis Layoo Ocan, MSF’s Project Medical Referent in Kosti. “We’ve run out of space, and we are now admitting patients in an open area and treating them on the floor because there are not enough beds.”
With hospital capacity overwhelmed, MSF teams have expanded treatment areas into the hospital’s adult and paediatric emergency rooms. Despite mobilizing resources, Dr Ocan warned of looming shortages of medical supplies essential for treating acute dehydration.
“We urgently need other organisations to help respond to this emergency with staff and supplies for managing patients. People need water, and it’s vital that outreach activities start to stem this crisis at the source,” he urged.
The outbreak is suspected to have originated from the river, where many families have been collecting water using donkey carts after a major power outage disrupted the local water supply. In response, local authorities have banned river water collection and are reinforcing chlorination in the distribution system. Markets and restaurants have also been closed as containment efforts intensify.
MSF continues to work with the White Nile State Ministry of Health to manage patients and curb the disease’s spread. However, as numbers continue to rise, healthcare workers fear the crisis may spiral further without immediate intervention.