Sudan has been stricken by a cholera outbreak that has killed nearly two dozen people and sickened hundreds more in recent weeks, health authorities said.
Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim said in a statement on Sunday that at least 22 people have died from the disease, and that at least 354 confirmed cases of cholera have been detected across the war-torn country in recent weeks.
On Saturday, he declared a cholera epidemic in Sudan and noted that the outbreak was “because of the weather conditions and because drinking water has been contaminated”.
He said the decision was taken in conjunction with authorities in the eastern state of Kassala, United Nations agencies and experts after the “discovery by the public health laboratory of the cholera virus”.
An official from the World Health Organization (WHO), Margaret Harris, said in a media call on Friday that 11,327 cholera cases with 316 deaths had been reported in Sudan so far.
