Cholera is spreading rapidly in Sudan's Darfur region, killing 40 people over the past week alone, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a report.

MSF teams say they have treated over 2,300 cholera patients during the last seven days. The organization blamed the rapid spread of the life-threatening diarrhoeal disease on water shortages and a collapsed health care system, which have left communities vulnerable amid an ongoing civil war in Sudan. MSF said that women, children and the elderly were most at risk.

Fighting between the Sudanese military, its allies, and rival paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed more than 40,000 people, displaced as many as 12 million, caused disease outbreaks and pushed many to the brink of famine.

Darfur Governor Mini Arko Minawi claimed that the outbreak was largely concentrated in areas under RSF occupation.

"Those suffering from cholera are located outside the government's service areas, with most of them living in areas controlled by the so-called RSF which have taken over these areas but are unable to provide services there," Minawi told DW. "These forces and their commanders have no knowledge how to provide services or how to govern."

Vulnerable populations

Around 100,000 cases have been reported since July 2024, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which describes cholera as a "disease of poverty," because it spreads where there is poor sanitation and a lack of clean water.

"Poor access to water, the destruction of health centers and hospitals, a considerable weakening of the population's health, and a decline in the immune systems is making people vulnerable to cholera," said Jacky Mamou, president of the Collectif Urgence Darfour, a French advocacy coalition that raise awareness about the humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

Sudan's civil war has also led to massive population displacements into camps that are struggling to accommodate them.

According to Rodrigue Alitanou from the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA), a humanitarian medical NGO, diseases are spreading due to poor hygiene, difficulties in accessing drinking water, and overcrowding, as hundreds of thousands of people are gathered together in small geographical areas.

Urgent need to equip hospitals

In Tawila, a town in Sudan's North Darfur state, MSF reported an especially extreme situation with the disease. Some 380,000 have fled the ongoing fighting around the state's besieged capital, El-Fasher.

Fighting in Sudan between the army and the paramilitary RSF has been ongoing since April 2023, creating one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

"We must facilitate the supply of necessities for hospitals to function, facilitate the arrival of humanitarian aid, but also facilitate the work of humanitarian workers in the country," said Alitanou.

UNICEF has reported that more than 640,000 children under the age of five are now at risk of disease in North Darfur alone.

Youcef Boufidjeline contributed to this report.

Edited by Keith Walker.