As civilians continue to seek safety and shelter away from the ongoing conflict in Sudan, it has become paramount for transit centres to have adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities to address the fears of a cholera outbreak.

Development Diaries reports that more than 300 people have to share a single water tap, as transit centres hold three times their capacity, according to Oxfam.

We understand that the influx of over half a million people fleeing Sudan’s conflict meant that transit centres in Renk are selling with over 5,000 people living in the open without any clean water or proper hygiene.

The rains, together with a lack of proper water or sanitation, will lead to increased cases of diseases as, currently, about 100 people are using just a single latrine – more than double the minimum standard.

‘I just came back from Renk where people are crammed in shelters in horrifying conditions. Many have to queue for hours just to use clean water or a toilet’, Oxfam in South Sudan Country Director, Manenji Mangundu, said in a statement.

‘Without an immediate injection of funds, the situation will explode into a full-blown catastrophe, leaving many more people at risk of diseases and going hungry.

‘The upcoming rainy season in April will cut off major roads, hampering vital aid and further limiting people’s transportation to shelters’.

Over 80 percent of the population in South Sudan – four out of five people – are already in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, and an impending outbreak will only plunge the region further into a humanitarian crisis.

Development Diaries calls on the Sudanese authorities to provide adequate water and sanitation facilities for those seeking safety and shelter from the war in respect of their rights as citizens.

Photos source: Dan Mitler