At least 40 people have died in Darfur during Sudan’s worst cholera outbreak in years, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported on August 14. The vast western region, already devastated by over two years of civil war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has been hardest hit in the year-long health crisis.

“On top of an all-out war, people in Sudan are now experiencing the worst cholera outbreak the country has seen in years,” MSF said in a statement. "In the Darfur region alone, MSF teams treated over 2,300 patients and recorded 40 deaths in the past week."

Across Sudan, health officials have reported 2,470 cholera-related deaths and nearly 100,000 suspected cases since August last year.

Read more: Cholera outbreak affects over 10,000 in Sudan as a result of conflict

Dire water shortages fuel spread of disease

Cholera, an acute intestinal infection spread through contaminated food and water, can kill within hours if untreated. Simple oral rehydration can save lives, but access to clean water remains scarce in many areas of Sudan.

MSF said that mass civilian displacement caused by the conflict has worsened the crisis by denying people access to safe water. In the North Darfur region's Tawila, where MSF describes the situation there as being the "most extreme," 380,000 people fled ongoing fighting around El-Fasher.

According to UN figures, those who fled Tawila now survive on just three liters of water per day, less than half the emergency minimum standard of 7.5 liters per person.

"In displacement and refugee camps, families often have no choice but to drink from contaminated sources and many contract cholera," Sylvain Penicaud, MSF project coordinator in Tawila said.

Penicaud described finding a body in a well inside a camp just two weeks ago, but the water was used again within days. Heavy rains have further contaminated water supplies and damaged sewage systems.

Read more: Over 40, including children, killed in Sudan hospital attack: WHO

Disease spreads across borders

The outbreak has now spread beyond displacement camps, affecting multiple localities across Darfur and moving into neighboring Chad and South Sudan as civilians flee violence.

MSF’s head of mission in Sudan, Tuna Turkmen, warned that the situation is “beyond urgent.” He urged immediate action to prevent more deaths, saying, "survivors of war must not be left to die from a preventable disease.”

Alongside the Cholera outbreak, the humanitarian crisis in Sudan worsens as famine escalates amid the ongoing civil war.

The UN cautions that 3.2 million children under five will face acute malnutrition in the upcoming year. The World Food Programme (WFP) adds that the war has caused "the world’s largest hunger crisis," citing that roughly 25 million people face acute hunger.

Read more: Sudan submits security file exposing intl. support for RSF: Exclusive