A cholera outbreak in Ethiopia’s Gambella region has killed at least 31 people and infected more than 1,500 over the past month, the humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned on Friday. The outbreak has been exacerbated by an influx of people fleeing violence in neighbouring South Sudan, further straining already limited healthcare resources.
“Cholera is rapidly spreading across western Ethiopia, and in parallel, the outbreak in South Sudan is ongoing, endangering thousands of lives,” MSF said in a statement.
The crisis is part of a wider cholera epidemic affecting several regions of Ethiopia, including Amhara, the country’s second-largest region. Cholera, an acute bacterial infection, spreads through contaminated food and water, often due to poor sanitation.
Meanwhile, in South Sudan’s Akobo County, located in the Upper Nile region, more than 1,300 cholera cases have been reported in just four weeks. MSF highlighted that ongoing clashes between South Sudanese government forces and armed groups are worsening the outbreak, displacing thousands and leaving them without access to clean water and healthcare.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, has struggled with chronic instability and poverty since gaining independence in 2011. The country declared a cholera epidemic in October, and the situation continues to deteriorate.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that cholera claimed around 4,000 lives in 2023, a 71% increase from the previous year, with the majority of deaths occurring in Africa.
