OCHA: Cholera spreads as new drone attacks endanger civilians, aid operations

Fighting and disease outbreaks continue to take a heavy toll on civilians across the country, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns in its latest report on Tuesday, lamenting that cholera continues to spread to new areas in Darfur and Kordofan.

OCHA confirms that multiple drone attacks have been reported across Darfur and Kordofan. In North Kordofan State, humanitarian partners reported that on Sunday a drone reportedly struck a fuel station in the Al Malaja area of El Obeid.

On the same day, in North Darfur, partners reported that a drone struck several trucks traveling along the road between El Fasher and Um Kadada. In a separate incident, another reported drone attack resulted in civilian casualties in Kubum town in South Darfur State.

Meanwhile, cholera continues to spread to new areas in Darfur and Kordofan. New cases were reportedly confirmed in Kampala displacement camp in South Darfur and the first suspected case was reported in Tawila locality in North Darfur.

OCHA says that new cases were reportedly confirmed in Kampala displacement camp in South Darfur and the first suspected case was reported in Tawila locality in North Darfur.

In West Kordofan, which has seen the highest number of cases, six new suspected cases and two associated deaths had been recorded by health partners, while in North Kordofan, 32 new suspected cholera cases were reported on Sunday in Gharb Bara locality.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1,330 cases and 114 deaths were confirmed as of 7 July.

“We and our partners continue to pre-position supplies and scale up the response to the outbreak,: OCHA says, highlighting that on 12 July, UNICEF delivered essential health supplies to El Fula in West Kordofan to support the ongoing cholera response. The supplies are expected to benefit more than 429,000 people.

“In Nyala South, our partners continued preventive and control measures, including community outreach and health awareness campaigns, household chlorination, and the distribution of chlorine strips to reduce the risk of transmission.”

The OCHA statement underlines that this time last year, Sudan faced a major cholera outbreak that resulted in more than 80,000 suspected cases and over 2,000 associated deaths.

“OCHA once again calls for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure and reiterates the need for rapid and flexible funding so partners can respond to growing needs across Sudan.”