Tuesday, October 20, 2026 • Malaria deaths in West Darfur State have exceeded 55 people, including 39 children, over the past three weeks, while the administration of El Geneina Teaching Hospital described the current wave as the most severe so far, with daily admissions at the hospital exceeding 500 cases and the administration forced to open new wards, amid a shortage of malaria medicines and a call for international health organisations to intervene urgently, coinciding with the launch of a three-day mosquito-control campaign that covered the city of El Geneina (Source: Administration of El Geneina Teaching Hospital — via Darfur 24 through Anadolu Agency, October 18, 2026). • Dengue fever topped the agenda of the weekly meeting of the Federal Emergency Operations Centre, as the report of the technical committee for haemorrhagic fevers revealed the spread of the disease in four states, with its highest rates in Sennar State, particularly in Sennar and Sinja localities, alongside cases in Blue Nile, Khartoum and White Nile, while surveillance recorded a general decline in malaria and cholera infections, with a new cholera case recorded in Al-Lait locality in North Darfur, and the Acting Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Montasir Mohamed Osman, directed the activation of household inspections in Sennar, Al-Suki and Sinja to curb malaria and fevers (Source: Federal Ministry of Health — via Nabdh Al-Sudan and Tag Press, October 13, 2026). • The General Coordination of the Displaced and Refugees announced that the cumulative number of dengue fever infections in the Tawila area of North Darfur State has risen to 927 cases from September until October 16, warning of unprecedented pressure on Tawila Rural Hospital, the shutdown of some health centres and an acute shortage of medicines, with a simultaneous spread of malaria, diarrhoea and malnutrition, especially among children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, and calling on humanitarian organisations and UN agencies to act immediately to provide medicines, support the hospital and restart the closed centres (Source: General Coordination of the Displaced and Refugees — via Al-Sudaniya News, October 16, 2026). • The African Development Bank and the World Health Organization reviewed the implementation of the $55 million health emergency and infrastructure project in Sudan, during a joint supervision mission in Khartoum from October 4 to 8, and the two sides agreed to accelerate the supply of essential medical supplies and equipment, support emergency operations centres, proceed with rehabilitating selected health facilities and installing solar energy systems in them to ensure the continuity of services despite electricity fluctuations (Source: African Development Bank and the World Health Organization, October 13, 2026). • The UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Denise Brown, warned that the severe rainfall deficit in parts of the country is deepening the existing humanitarian catastrophe, and that malnutrition and disease will inevitably follow, raising the risks to millions of children already affected by repeated displacement, stressing that access to food, therapeutic nutrition, clean water, sanitation and health services has become critical, especially in Darfur and parts of Kordofan, and that humanitarian food and nutrition stocks are threatened with running out by early 2027 unless urgent funding arrives (Source: Office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan — statement of October 15, 2026 via ReliefWeb). • The World Health Organization classified Sudan among three priority countries for intensive support in Ebola preparedness, alongside Djibouti and Somalia, following deadly outbreaks of the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda and the confirmation of a case in Kenya linked to Congo, explaining that between July and September it dispatched missions to assess the preparedness of the three countries in surveillance, laboratory capacities, infection prevention and case management, and that it is supporting the closing of gaps through training, medical supplies and simulation exercises, while confirming that no Ebola case has been recorded in the Eastern Mediterranean Region so far (Source: World Health Organization — via UN News, October 16, 2026).
— Health Desk
