At least 40 people have died in Darfur in the past week as Sudan faces its most severe cholera outbreak in years, with Doctors Without Borders warning that the crisis is “beyond urgent.”

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Darfur has become the worst-hit region in a year-long cholera outbreak that has killed 2,470 people and left nearly 100,000 suspected cases across Sudan since August last year. According to MSF, its teams treated over 2,300 patients and recorded 40 deaths in Darfur alone during the past week.

The health emergency compounds a civil war that has displaced millions. In North Darfur’s Tawila, described by MSF as the “most extreme” setting, around 380,000 people fled fighting around El-Fasher.

MSF’s project coordinator in the area, Sylvain Penicaud, said that in displacement camps, families “often have no choice but to drink from contaminated sources and many contract cholera.” He added that a body was found in a camp well two weeks ago, but the water was reused within days.

Cholera, transmitted through contaminated food and water, is preventable with clean water and oral rehydration. Yet mass displacement and dire water shortages have fueled its spread. Heavy rains have further polluted supplies and damaged sewage systems.

The outbreak has now reached beyond Darfur’s camps, affecting multiple localities and spreading into Chad and South Sudan as people continue to flee violence. MSF’s head of mission in Sudan, Tuna Turkmen, stressed, “survivors of war must not be left to die from a preventable disease.”

The crisis unfolds against rising hunger and famine risks. The UN warns that 3.2 million children under five will suffer acute malnutrition in the coming year, while the World Food Programme describes the conflict-driven emergency as “the world’s largest hunger crisis,” with about 25 million people facing acute food insecurity.

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