Sudan is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, warned the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, citing sharply increasing cases of disease, hunger and suffering among the civilian population. The country is in the grip of a fierce armed conflict that began in April 2023, reports „Reuters“, reports News.bg.
The fighting is between the army commander-in-chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the leader of the paramilitary group „Rapid Support Forces“ Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, which has so far claimed tens of thousands of lives.
“The ongoing violence in Sudan has led to widespread hunger, disease and suffering“, Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Geneva. He said the country is gripped by a major cholera outbreak, with cases reported in all 18 states, nearly 100,000 since July 2023. Despite oral vaccination campaigns, including in the capital Khartoum, epidemiological control remains weak and progress is fragile.
Flooding in recent weeks further increases the risk of new outbreaks of cholera, malaria, dengue and other infectious diseases. Cholera is an acute intestinal infection transmitted through contaminated food and water, which without treatment can be fatal within hours.
The food crisis is reaching tragic proportions. In besieged El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, people are reportedly eating animal feed to survive. According to WHO data, some 770,000 children under the age of five are at risk of severe acute malnutrition this year.
In the first half of 2025, more than 17,000 children with complications of malnutrition were treated in WHO-supported health facilities, but access to many areas remains impossible and funding is severely limited, with only a third of the funds needed secured.
“As long as the violence in Sudan continues, we will see more hunger, more displacement and more disease,” Ghebreyesus stressed.