13 cholera dead in South Darfur capital

Thirteen people died of cholera in a district of Nyala, medical sources reported on Sunday. One of the nearby camps for displaced people is treating “dozens of infected people”.

The medics and medical volunteers in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, reported the deaths of 13 people and the infection of 91 people in El Wehda district in the southern part of the city.

There are other casualties which have not been counted yet in El Fiteihad, Kararai, and Khartoum Bileil districts in Nyala. “The situation in Nyala is out of control and poses dangers to the residents.”

A sheikh in El Salam camp for displaced people, south of Nyala, told Radio Dabanga that two people died of cholera, and five others were infected on Saturday.

“We are concerned that the rate of cholera infections will increase because of the lack of health education and life-saving medicines, amid the continued rains.”

Otash, Kalma camps

Two people died in Otash camp in Nyala, South Darfur, on Monday. One of the camp sheikhs told Radio Dabanga yesterday that dozens of people were being treated in the isolation centre of Block 3 in the camp. “The parts of the camp which are affected the most are Blocks 1, 8 and 9.”

Activists who volunteer in the campaign against cholera reported the death of four people in Kass in South Darfur on Saturday. There are ten new cases of cholera, four of them from Kass town, and 6 other from villages near Kass on Saturday.

Kalma camp's isolation ward on 4 September (RD)

Seven residents of Kalma camp for displaced people were infected with cholera, while 79 other displaced people contracted the disease from Friday until Sunday, the secretary-general of Kalma, Saleh Eisa told Radio Dabanga. “The number of hospitalised cases in the two health centres here amounted to 35 until Sunday.”

Kalma camp's isolation ward on 4 September (RD)

Central Darfur

In Garsila locality in Central Darfur, six people died on Sunday. Three people were infected and taken to Garsila hospital, sources informed Radio Dabanga. Earlier this week it was reported that cholera victims from Bindisi also were being transferred to Garsila hospital.

Nierteti hospital in Central Darfur received seven new cholera cases in its isolation centre on Saturday and Sunday. One of the camp elders in Nierteti locality informed Radio Dabanga that two of the cases came from neighbouring villages of Nierteti on Saturday.

“On Monday, the centre also received three cases coming from neighbouring villages and from inside the town. The total number of hospitalised cases in the centre has been nine, until Monday.”

One person died in Anjoucti in West Darfur where six others were infected and taken to Foro Baranga hospital.

'Acute watery diarrhoea'

The National Epidemiological Corporation reported in July that nearly 24,000 Sudanese have been infected and 940 cholera patients have died since the outbreak of the infectious disease in Blue Nile state in August last year.

The Sudanese authorities however, refuse to call the disease by its name, and refer to it as “Watery Diarrhoea”. The National Intelligence and Security Service has repeatedly warned medics and the press in the country not to make mention of cholera. Cholera “seems to be a stigma for the government,” a Sudanese specialist told Radio Dabanga in January.

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