In Port Sudan, located on Sudan’s Red Sea coast, a cholera outbreak has escalated due to insufficient medical resources amidst the ongoing conflict in the country.

A university dormitory originally accommodating students has been repurposed into a refuge for displaced individuals, providing shelter for at least 1,000 people.

Among the displaced is Julia Adam, who lost one of her two daughters a month ago after she was infected with cholera.

“Her illness was stronger, it was cholera, and she died a month ago. And the other girl is here after she recovered,” she said.

Not everyone in the shelter looks after hygiene and cleanliness, said Adam, who moved from the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

Dr. Ahlam Abdullah, the director general of Red Sea province health sector at the Ministry of Health, says there have been 2,237 cases of cholera so far.

She said during an interview with The Associated Press that there has been a reduction of the death rate, but added that resources are stretched very thin.

“There is a shortage in the supply of medicines. We suffer greatly in providing treatment for people with all diseases,” she added.

She called on international organizations to help, adding that “70 percent of the health system in Sudan is out of service” because of war and the destruction of health care facilities.

Sudan’s war began in mid-April after months of tensions between military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.

Both generals led a military coup in October 2021 that derailed Sudan’s short-lived transition to democracy following a popular uprising that forced the removal of President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

More than 7 million people were forced out of their homes, including more than 1.5 million who have sought refuge in neighboring countries, according to the UN figures.

Chad received more than 500,000 refugees, mostly from Sudan’s western region of Darfur, where the RSF conquered much of its areas.

The conflict in Sudan has wrecked the country and killed up to 9,000 people as of October, according to the United Nations.

However, activists and doctors’ groups say the real toll is far higher.