A devastating cholera outbreak is sweeping through the overcrowded refugee camps of Tawila in Sudan’s Darfur region, where fear spreads as quickly as the disease.

With limited access to clean water and sanitation, hundreds of thousands of displaced people are struggling to survive amid a collapsing healthcare system and ongoing conflict.

In the makeshift shelters of Tawila, where nearly half a million people have sought refuge since April, the situation is dire. Families fleeing violence in the nearby city of El-Fasher and the Zamzam displacement camp, driven by clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, are now battling a deadly waterborne disease. Cholera, which thrives in conditions of poor sanitation and contaminated water, has infected thousands and claimed numerous lives.

“We mix lemon in the water when we have it and drink it as medicine,” said Mona Ibrahim, a mother who has lived in a hastily erected camp in Tawila for two months. “We have no other choice,” she added, sitting on the bare ground, surrounded by flies that contaminate everything they touch.The outbreak was first detected in early June in the village of Tabit, 25 kilometers south of Tawila, according to Sylvain Penicaud, a project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF). “After two weeks, we started identifying cases directly in Tawila, particularly in the town’s displacement camps,” Penicaud said. MSF reports that over 1,500 cholera cases have been treated in Tawila alone in the past month, with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimating that 300 children in the town have contracted the disease since April.

Recent updates indicate the crisis has worsened. By August 4, 2025, the General Directorate of Health Emergencies and Epidemics Control reported 2,957 suspected cholera cases in Tawila, with some confirmed through rapid diagnostic testing. Across the five Darfur states, nearly 2,140 cases and at least 80 deaths were recorded by July 30, according to UN figures. The Sudan Doctors Network reported a staggering 1,331 confirmed cases in Tawila in just seven days in late July, underscoring the rapid spread of the disease.

UNICEF warns that over 640,000 children under five in North Darfur are at risk, exacerbated by severe acute malnutrition, which has doubled in the region over the past year. “Children whose bodies are weakened by hunger are far more likely to contract cholera and to die from it,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Representative in Sudan. The agency is distributing oral rehydration salts, providing chlorinated water to nearly 30,000 people daily, and preparing to deliver over 1.4 million oral cholera vaccine doses. However, ongoing violence and bureaucratic obstacles continue to hinder aid delivery.

MSF has opened a 160-bed cholera treatment center in Tawila, with plans to expand to 200 beds, and a second facility in Daba Nyra, one of the hardest-hit camps. Both centers are already overwhelmed, Penicaud noted, as the rainy season, peaking this month, threatens to further contaminate water supplies and worsen the crisis. The RSF’s blockades of aid convoys have severely restricted humanitarian access, leaving health workers struggling to meet the growing needs.

The World Health Organization reported nearly 100,000 cholera cases across Sudan since July 2024, with over 2,400 deaths in 17 of the country’s 18 states. In Tawila, the lack of soap, toilets, and clean water has made basic prevention measures nearly impossible. “We don’t have food. We don’t have pots. No blankets – nothing at all,” said Fatna Essa, a displaced woman in Tawila.

The Sudan Doctors Network has called for urgent intervention from federal health authorities and international organizations, emphasizing the need for medical supplies and rapid response teams to contain the outbreak. UNICEF has appealed for $30.6 million to fund its emergency cholera response, warning that without safe, unimpeded access to affected areas, preventable child deaths will continue to rise.

As Sudan’s conflict enters its third year, the cholera outbreak in Tawila underscores the catastrophic intersection of war, displacement, hunger, and disease. Humanitarian organizations continue to plead for action to save lives in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. (ILKHA)