Profuse diarrhea. Vomiting. Extreme thirst. Stomach pain. Leg cramps. Rapid heartbeat.
With no treatment, death can occur within hours.
This is cholera. It’s a bacterial disease caused by consuming contaminated water, and it’s spreading rapidly in Khartoum and other areas we serve in Sudan.
According to the Health Ministry, a cholera outbreak centered in Sudan’s Khartoum state has killed 172 people with more than 2,500 becoming ill in the past week. Since the beginning of the year, more than 7,700 people have been diagnosed with cholera, including over 1,000 children under the age of 4.
Your support is desperately needed to provide oral rehydration solution, IV supplies, and antibiotics to help treat the sick and stop the spread of this rampant outbreak.
Since the start of the war in 2023, several factors are creating the perfect conditions for cholera to spiral out of control and devastate the population:
- Sudan’s health system has been destroyed. More than 80% of hospitals are out of service, and those that are operating have shortages of water, electricity, staff, and medication.
- Destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure means that access to clean water is extremely limited, forcing millions to consume contaminated water.
- Recent cuts in US funding have resulted in reduced medicines, supplies, staff, and capacity to treat sick people and screen those who are potentially infected.
Health workers fear the outbreak could spread quickly, since many people are packed into displacement centers making it difficult to isolate infected people. Additionally, the rainy season has started in Sudan, which can increase risk of the spread and complicate travel for medical staff trying to reach those who need treatment.
Without medication and supplies, our already reduced staff cannot possibly respond to the influx of sick people, many of whom are children.
Medical Teams is on the ground, right in the thick of this outbreak, ready to save lives. But we cannot respond to the growing need, or stop the spread of cholera, without you.
