On 2 September 2019, Blue Nile State Ministry of Health (SMoH) reported five suspected cholera cases from El Roseires hospital, the index case was reported from Ganees Shareg area of El Roseires locality with date of onset of symptoms being the 28 August 2019. On the 8th of September, the federal ministry of health declared a cholera outbreak in Blue Nile state after receiving positive laboratory results confirming the presence of Vibreo Cholerae in four out of six samples collected from the affected state, by the end of December 2019 four states were affected by the outbreak, namely, Blue Nile, Sennar, Gezeira, and Khartoum states. The last cholera outbreak 2016 -2018 has started primarily in Kassala and Blue Nile states and eventually spreading to affect all 18 states across Sudan with 36,000 cases of cholera reported by the end of the outbreak.
Timeline:
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8th of September, the federal ministry of health declares a cholera outbreak in Blue Nile state.
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13th of September, the first case of Cholera reported from Sennar state.
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2nd of October the inter-agency consolidated the humanitarian cholera readiness and response plan by WHO, UNICEF and UNHCR was finalized.
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11-17 of October, first phase of the OCV campaign in Sennar and Blue Nile states.
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19th of October the first case of cholera reported in Khartoum state.
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7th of November, first case of suspected Cholera in Gazeira State.
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16- 21 of November, second phase of OCV campaign in Sennar and Blue Nile states.
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As of 16 January 2020, 346 suspected cholera cases (including 11 deaths) were reported from Blue Nile, Sennar, Al Gezira and Khartoum states, according to FMoH. The case fatality rate (CFR) is 3.2 per cent.
The response started as early as the 2nd of September and on 11 September FMOH/ WHO/UNICEF conducted the first joint health and WASH cluster meeting on cholera response in Blue Nile. The FMOH supported by WHO activated emergency operation centers in Khartoum and all affected states with daily meetings to update and inform the response.