Cholera can cause severe diarrhoea, nausea, tummy pain and dehydration, NHS says in a list of its symptoms on its website, but drinking plenty of fluids helps treat the infection
Cases of an infection that caused three global pandemics during the Victorian era are on the rise again.
Widespread flooding, contaminated water and a decimated health system in Sudan, in particular, are putting thousands of children at risk of catching cholera.
The infection can cause dehydration, diarrhoea, nausea and other unpleasant symptoms and children under five are particularly vulnerable to it, due to their weaker immune systems. Data shows under fives account for nearly 15% of the confirmed cases and deaths from cholera across Sudan. Nearly 2900 cases of cholera and 112 deaths have been reported there between July 22 and the beginning of September with Sudan’s Ministry of Health officially declaring the outbreak on August 12.
Save the Children has now issued a plea to help youngsters in the African nation, who it says have “gone from horror to horror” in recent years. The charity is working to ensure families have access to clean water, sanitation facilities, but now needs “a huge injection of funds” for this work.
A power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into a large-scale conflict in April 2023, and this war has further escalated challenges families face in Sudan.
“Children in Sudan have gone from horror to horror. Even before the conflict erupted last year the country was home to one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises, with existing localised conflicts, natural disasters, disease outbreaks and economic degradation leaving 15.8 million people in need,” Mohamed Abdiladif, interim country director for Save the Children in Sudan, said.
“That figure has now escalated to 25.6 million people, and diseases like cholera will only trigger a greater increase. Conflict is not just about immediate violence but is also a slow but deadly drip-feed of other grave threats to children’s lives, such as malnutrition and disease.”
The spike in cholera comes with no end to the fighting that started in April last year and has devastated the country’s health and sanitation systems. Cholera spreads rapidly due to inadequate sewage treatment, flooding, and unsafe drinking water — conditions worsened by relentless heavy rains that have battered much of the country for the past three months.
The flooding has already claimed at least 173 lives and injured 505 people since June, according to the National Council for Civil Defence. The downpour has also caused the collapse of the Arbaat Dam in Red Sea state on August 24, which is the main source of drinking water for the coastal city of Port Sudan, a vital humanitarian hub.
There were three global pandemics of cholera at the same time as the UK’s Victorian Era. During two of these, countries across Europe were affected but, since then, cases have been much less frequent in developed countries where governments have helped to establish water sanitation practices and effective medical treatments.