Name: Why children are dying from water-borne diseases in Sudan
Uploaded: 2026-01-06T21:01:07.144Z
Duration: 2 min 56 s
Description: Displaced families in Sudan’s White Nile State are facing a growing health emergency. Thousands are forced to rely on untreated water from the White Nile River. As a result, water-borne diseases are spreading rapidly in displacement camps.

Displaced families in Sudan’s White Nile State are facing a growing health emergency. Thousands are forced to rely on untreated water from the White Nile River. As a result, water-borne diseases are spreading rapidly in displacement camps.

Kosti

Children in a displacement camp in Kosti, Sudan, are experiencing a severe outbreak of Bilharzia, a potentially fatal water-borne disease caused by parasitic worms. The outbreak has been linked to the camp's reliance on untreated water from the White Nile after initial water facilities broke down and no alternatives were provided.

Medical resources in the camp are scarce, with no functioning medical center or available medication, and families are unable to afford medical evacuations. As a result, the number of children infected has nearly doubled within a year, and the disease is affecting both children and adults, compounding the hardships caused by displacement and poverty.

Why children are dying from water-borne diseases in Sudan

Mustafa, Zainab, Suad, Mariam, all four children of Ni'mat Omar are bedridden with Bilharzia, a disease that can be fatal. So are the children of Halima Abu Bakr. She says she's already lost two. This one has it, and this one, and one who's not here now, and this one too, four of them. Even this one is also starting to urinate blood. Bilharzia is an acute and chronic waterborne disease caused by a parasitic worm that lives in infested water. It gets into the body through drinking or bathing. It infects the urinary tracts, causing severe abdominal pain, fever and crushing headaches. So far it has no vaccine. In 2021, after tribal unrest in Sudan's southeastern region of Blue Nile, thousands of families fled to Kosti. They've been living here for four years in the most miserable conditions. Water facilities provided initially by charities soon broke down. The camp is situated near the banks of the White Nile. This is the camp's only water source. It's untreated and poses a significant health risk. Doctors say it is teeming with larval worms that can cause Bilharzia. With no alternatives, people are forced to use it for washing, bathing and even drinking. We don't have chlorine to disinfect the water. We drink it as it is. Our children bathe in it too, that's why they fall sick. When we ask doctors for medication, they say it's not available. He adds that the only medical centre in the camp isn't functioning and has no medication. The families have no money to pay for medical evacuations. As a result, Bilharzia is slowly wiping out entire generations of children in this camp. There are 4,200 children in the camp. As of last year, 1,050 of them got Bilharzia. We estimate the number to have increased to nearly 2,000 this year. And it's not affecting only the young. Everyone here is either sick or nursing a number of sick people. They all say they wish they never came to this place. We just want to go back to Damazin. We didn't have this Bilharzia disease back home. We used to drink clean tap water there. It's not just bombs and bullets that are killing Sudanese people, but they're also facing the scourge of diseases made worse by poverty and neglect. Mohamed Fahd, Al Jazeera, Kosti, Sudan.

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