Sudan: Thousands of Children Who Freed to S. Sudan at Risk of Cholera

Thousands of displaced children on the South Sudanese side of the border with Sudan are at risk of deadly cholera outbreaks due to flooding and lack of adequate sewage systems.

This was said by Save the Children who reported that Cases of cholera have already been reported in resettlement camps in Malakal, where many of the refugees from Sudan and returnees from South Sudan have been resettled after they cross the border.

Further, in Renk, in the northeastern part of South Sudan, the start of the rainy season earlier this month brought in torrential rains, causing large areas of transit centres to become mud fields and raising fears that deadly floods and outbreaks of diseases like cholera will occur in coming weeks.

Reports indicate that due to war and displacement children were exposed to the dangerous scorching sun as temperatures reached a scorching 45 degrees Celsius in Renk, but in the coming weeks they  will be at risk of pneumonia and cholera due to the rains, and their few remaining belongings risk being washed away by floods.

As a result, children are most vulnerable to these diseases and without additional medical supplies, thousands are at risk of dying in the coming weeks.

Since fighting began in Sudan in mid-April, more than 1.9 million people have been displaced, including close to 500,000 people who have sought safety in neighbouring countries of Sudan, Egypt, and Chad.