GENEVA: The World Health Organization warned on Friday that cholera cases in Sudan are set to rise and could spread to neighboring countries, including Chad, which hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees from Sudan鈥檚 civil war in crowded conditions.

The more than two-year-old war between the Sudanese army 鈥� which took full control of Khartoum state this week 鈥� and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has spread hunger and disease and destroyed most health facilities. Drone attacks in recent weeks have interrupted electricity and water supplies in the capital, Khartoum, driving up cases there.

鈥淥ur concern is that cholera is spreading,鈥� Dr. Shible Sahbani, WHO Representative for Sudan, said in Geneva by video link from Port Sudan.
He said that cholera had reached 13 states in Sudan, including North and South Darfur, which border Chad, and that 1,854 people had already died in the latest wave as the dangerous rainy season sets in.
鈥淲e assume that if we don鈥檛 invest in the prevention measures, in surveillance, in the early warning system, in vaccination and in educating the population, for sure, the neighboring countries, but not only that, it can maybe spread to the sub-region,鈥� he said.
He called for humanitarian corridors and temporary ceasefires to allow mass vaccination campaigns against cholera and other disease outbreaks, such as Dengue fever and malaria.
Cholera, a severe, potentially fatal diarrheal disease, spreads quickly when sewage and drinking water are not treated adequately.
Sahbani said that this posed a high risk for Sudanese refugees, including some who had survived attacks on a displacement camp in Darfur, and who are living in cramped, makeshift border sites on the Chadian side of the border.
鈥淚n overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, a potential outbreak could be devastating,鈥� said Fran莽ois Batalingaya, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Chad, at the same briefing, describing the conditions for some 300,000 people stranded there with few aid services due to funding shortages.
The disease has not yet been confirmed in Chad, although a WHO spokesperson said that suspected cases had been reported in Geneina, Sudan, just 10 km away.
Sahbani also said that disease surveillance was low on the Libyan border and that it could possibly spread there.
Case fatality rates have fallen in recent weeks in and around the capital, Khartoum, thanks to an oral cholera vaccination campaign that started this month, Sahbani said.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said Sudan had become a grim example of impunity and the world鈥檚 indifference.
Fletcher called on 鈥渁ll with influence鈥� to do more to safeguard civilians and to enable humanitarian aid to reach millions in the war-shattered country.
Despite repeated international pledges to protect Sudan鈥檚 people, 鈥渢heir country has become a grim example of twin themes of this moment: indifference and impunity,鈥� he said in a statement.
Fletcher, the UN鈥檚 Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, underlined that half of Sudan鈥檚 population, some 30 million people, need lifesaving aid in the world鈥檚 largest humanitarian crisis.
鈥淚ndiscriminate shelling, drone attacks, and other air strikes kill, injure, and displace people in staggering numbers. The health system has been smashed to pieces, with cholera, measles, and other diseases spreading,鈥� he said.
The human cost of the war, including 鈥渉orrific鈥� sexual violence, has been repeatedly condemned, 鈥渂ut talk has not translated into real protection for civilians or safe, unimpeded and sustained access for humanitarians,鈥� he said.
鈥淲here is the accountability? Where is the funding?鈥�