The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Thursday that 292,000 children are at risk of cholera in White Nile State, South Sudan.
The organization also explained in a statement that 500 children were among 2,700 cholera cases reported in White Nile State since the beginning of the year until February 24.
The statement indicated that the cholera outbreak has killed at least 65 people, including 10 children in White Nile, and stressed that “cholera poses a deadly threat to children and can be fatal within hours if not treated immediately.”
It pointed out that the city of Kosti in White Nile State includes 292,000 children at risk of cholera, and UNICEF added that it is working in cooperation with the Sudanese Ministry of Health and humanitarian partners to expand the scope of the response and prevent the spread of cholera.
It stressed that the outbreak of diseases such as the current cholera wave could push Sudan’s fragile health care system to the brink of collapse.
It pointed out that the attacks on power stations on February 16 led to power outages, disrupting water supplies in the cities of Kosti and Rabak and forcing many families to use untreated water, increasing the chances of the disease spreading.
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The Sudanese government, international organizations, and popular committees accuse the Rapid Support Forces of bombing the Umm Dabakir power station on February 16.
This affected the power supply to the city of Kosti and the rest of the White Nile State and led to the cessation of the water stations, while the latter did not comment on this.
According to the latest statistics from the Sudanese Ministry of Health on Tuesday, the number of cholera infections in the country reached 55,996 cases, including 1,472 deaths, since the beginning of the epidemic in August 2024.
In Khartoum State, which consists of 3 cities, the army now controls 90 percent of the “city of Bahri” in the north and most parts of the “city of Omdurman” in the west, and 60 percent of the depth of the “city of Khartoum”, which is in the middle of the state and contains the presidential palace and the international airport, and is almost surrounded by army forces.
Since mid-April 2023, the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces have been waging a war that has left more than 20,000 dead and about 15 million displaced and refugees.
And that was according to the United Nations and local authorities, while research by American universities estimated the number of dead at about 130,000.
