Sudan: Sudan's Health Minister - Cholera Outbreak in North Kordofan 'Contained'

What the report says

AllAfrica, carrying a Dabanga report dated 21 July 2026, reported that Sudan’s Federal Minister of Health, Dr Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim, said a cholera outbreak in North Kordofan’s Mazroub area has been brought under control. According to the minister, reported cases there have fallen compared with previous weeks, and Sheikan locality has seen only a few infections with no sign of broader spread.

Dr Ibrahim told Radio Dabanga that Sudan had declared itself cholera-free in January, before new infections appeared in May in parts of West Kordofan controlled by the Rapid Support Forces. He said official daily surveillance reports from states across Sudan, including RSF-held areas, led health authorities to collect and test samples that confirmed cholera in several West Kordofan localities.

The minister said health officials then directed aid groups working locally, including Kafa Organisation and Médecins Sans Frontières, to set up isolation centres in affected areas of West Kordofan and begin daily monitoring. He linked the subsequent spread to Mazroub to population movement in conflict-affected areas, saying infected people travelled there before large numbers of cases were recorded.

According to the report, an isolation centre was later established in Mazroub, with international organisations and aid agencies supplying medical materials in coordination with North Kordofan state authorities. The development matters because Sudan’s war has complicated disease surveillance, population movement and access to health services, increasing the risk that waterborne diseases such as cholera can spread rapidly if not detected and isolated early.