Cholera outbreak in Sudan capital kills 70 in two days

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00:00The United Nations has called it the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

00:05Now in its third year of civil war between the army and the paramilitary rapid support forces,

00:10the humanitarian situation in Sudan continues to deteriorate.

00:14Though the country was already suffering from worsening famine

00:17and over 13 million people displaced since the start of the war,

00:21recent outbreaks of infection have seen deadly diseases spread.

00:25In the capital of Khartoum, a cholera outbreak has left at least 70 people dead in the last 48 hours,

00:31according to local authorities.

00:33And the surge in infection comes after drone strikes blamed on the paramilitary RSF

00:38obliterated the capital's water and electricity supply.

00:42Now for more on this, I'm joined now by Eva Hins,

00:44the Chief of Advocacy and Communication for UNICEF in Port Sudan.

00:49Welcome Eva to Daybreak and thank you so much for joining us here on the programme.

00:54Now you're there on the ground and you're seeing things as they are.

00:59Can you tell us a little bit about what the last 24 hours has looked like in Port Sudan?

01:06Well, it's a very rapidly evolving situation.

01:09It's a very difficult situation in many ways.

01:13This is a disease outbreak, so it continues spreading.

01:17And it's incredibly critical that we are here on the ground,

01:19all hands on deck and responding as fast as we possibly can.

01:24And as you've mentioned, we've seen a real upsurge in the caseload in the Khartoum state

01:30since mid until recent days.

01:35We've seen a caseload go up from around 80 cases to around,

01:40sorry, around 90 cases to go up to 800 cases.

01:44So it's incredibly serious at the moment.

01:46We're talking about 1 million children being at heightened risk.

01:50Now, with that surge in infection, what is the situation for health centres and hospitals?

01:55Can you tell us a bit more about how they're coping with all of this?

02:00Well, the health centres are very overcrowded at the moment.

02:03This is a country at war.

02:05This is a place where a large number of health centres and hospitals have been destroyed

02:10during this conflict or damaged.

02:13So they are very scarce.

02:16It's very difficult to find functioning health centres.

02:19There's a limited number of healthcare professionals on the ground.

02:22During the conflict, the vaccination rates have plummeted from around 84% until 30%.

02:28So it means that very many children haven't been vaccinated and they don't have that protective shield.

02:35So it means that they're in a very perilous situation at the moment.

02:39Would you say that it's the lack of critical infrastructure like health centres

02:45that is really the largest barrier right now to helping children in Sudan?

02:50Or is it a mix of...

02:51I think it's many.

02:52Sorry, would you say it's a mix of the displacement, the outbreak,

02:58what is the real, the largest issue right now that is facing people,

03:03especially children, with the crisis in Sudan?

03:07Well, it is, as you say, it's many things happening at the same time.

03:11It's more than 5 million children that have been displaced since the beginning of the conflict

03:15and many have ended up in camps or internally displaced.

03:19And in these places, there's very limited number of services, limited numbers or lack of water,

03:26lack of sanitation, toilets.

03:29There's barely any health care present.

03:33The shelters are not there.

03:35So these places are already very difficult places for children to cope and grow up in.

03:42And then, in addition to that, when we've seen attacks on power plants

03:48and that then having a direct impact on electricity supply,

03:51that having an impact on delivering safe and clean water.

03:55So that's making things even more difficult for children.

03:58So it is all of these things coming together.

04:01And then another layer to this is then, of course, access.

04:05That is quite difficult to reach these children in need in some of these places.

04:09So that's equally important.

04:11So it's not only the lack of services or lack of health centers, lack of supplies,

04:16lack of vaccines, lack of clean water, but it's also lack of access.

04:21Would you say, in your opinion, that this surge in disease and this cholera outbreak,

04:25do you think that's something that is likely to have implications for Sudan's neighbors in the region?

04:31Is that something that is likely to spread?

04:35Well, I don't have a crystal ball, but, of course, this is a disease.

04:38And diseases don't respect borders.

04:40So anything is possible.

04:42And I think it really underscores why it's so important that we are here.

04:45We are responding together with the Ministry of Health, together with all of our partners.

04:50It really is the time to have all hands on deck.

04:53So keeping with that all hands on deck theme, could you outline for us in more detail,

04:58what is UNICEF doing to help ease the suffering that is clearly hitting the people of Sudan

05:04in such great amounts?

05:07We are doing a number of things, and we are providing support through many of our programs.

05:12Key thing being, of course, providing safe and clean water.

05:15So in practical terms, that means that we provided water treatment chemicals,

05:20for example, to one of the biggest water treatment plants in the Khartoum state

05:24that provides water for one million people.

05:27In addition to that, we are providing water treatment chemicals for community level.

05:33We are teaching people how to use them.

05:35We are also spreading information in terms of what are the symptoms of cholera,

05:40where to seek treatment.

05:42We are also providing vaccines.

05:45Vaccines are an integral part of the response as well.

05:49And as we are seeing in many of these places, many of the children are malnourished.

05:53So we are also providing support through our nutrition programming for these children.

06:01Now, earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump dismantled USAID.

06:06Would you say that that has had a knock-on effect to the work that UNICEF is doing in Sudan?

06:11Is there a human cost to the cutting of that funding?

06:15Well, we've seen the needs here on the ground grow already from last year with more than 20 percent.

06:24So the needs are staggering.

06:26And already before these recent cuts, Sudan was severely underfunded.

06:31And if you think that the needs are going up, the funding might be going down.

06:36So it's a very difficult equation.

06:38Now, last question, I think.

06:43The last month's capture of Khartoum by the Sudanese armed forces,

06:48would you say that this has had any effect on the conflict?

06:51Do you think that there could be an end in sight?

06:53I know it's difficult to predict, but has there been an effect from the capture of Khartoum?

07:00Well, what I can tell you, I can tell you that we have seen a number of people who have started returning back.

07:07But for many of these people who are returning back, they're returning back to houses and homes

07:13that have been destroyed during the conflict.

07:16They're in places where there are a limited number of services.

07:21So that, again, underscores how important it is that we have access to these places

07:26and we do provide them at scale.

07:29Thank you so much, Eva Hins, for joining us from Port Sudan.

07:34That's Eva Hins, the Chief of Advocacy and Communication for UNICEF.

07:39Thank you so much.

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