War in Sudan : Fears over spread of cholera and dengue fever
Report by: Haffiya Elyas
In Sudan, dengue fever remains one of the top causes of health emergencies in the country. The disease places a major burden on population health, further exacerbated by poor access to basic health care services following years of underfunding of the health care system.
Medics say 3,398 cases of dengue fever have been recorded so far while 18 people have died with cholera.
Medics in Sudan have warned that cases of cholera and dengue fever are spreading due to the arrival of seasonal rains and the impact of more than five months of war on a health system that was already struggling before fighting began.
Health authorities have confirmed cases of cholera for the first time since the war between rival military factions began in mid-April, saying that the earliest case had been detected in al-Qadarif state in late August.
According to Reuters the federal health ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday that 18 people had died and 265 infected with cholera in al-Qadarif state.
A doctors’ syndicate in Sudan said 3,398 cases of dengue fever were recorded across al-Qadarif, Red Sea, North Kordofan and Khartoum states between mid-April and mid-September.
“These numbers represent the tip of the iceberg and are much lower than suspected cases in homes and from those buried without record,” the statement said.
Residents in al-Qadarif, an eastern state that is crucial to Sudan’s rain-fed agricultural production and borders Ethiopia, told Reuters that dengue fever, malaria, cholera and diarrhoea had been spreading partly due to lack of rain water drainage, and that health facilities were severely overcrowded because of the arrival of people displaced from Khartoum.
There have been dozens of attacks on healthcare facilities since conflict erupted between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15. Most hospitals in Khartoum have been put out of service.
It is worth noting that the eastern part of Sudan has experienced repeated outbreaks of dengue during the last couple of years particularly from 2005 onward. The areas most affected are Red Sea and Kassala states, which have dengue virus types 1 and 3 in circulation . Moreover, DEN-1, DEN-2, and DEN-3 have been confirmed in the port city of Jeddah just across the Red Sea from Kassala, and with connections to the eastern part of the Sudan
Families from Port-Sudan usually spend the hot humid months of summer in Kassala taking advantage of more pleasant weather during that season. Port-Sudan has been known as an endemic area for dengue since the 1980s, with repeated dengue outbreaks in recent years particularly since 2005 . It was assumed that dengue disease was imported from Port-Sudan to Kassala; however, in this study, travel of a participant or one of his household members to Red Sea state in the last 6 months was not statistically significantly associated with dengue prevalence in Kassala.
DF is considered a major public health issue in the eastern region of the country, where it has been reported since 1908 , with endemicity and frequent outbreaks in the coastal and sub-coastal areas of the Red Sea and Kassala states .
Sudan is going through an important and very difficult phase, all efforts must be joined to achieve the goals to build a new Sudan free of diseases and epidemics so that the citizens can enjoy good health .