Khartoum, Aug 17 (IANS): Sudan's Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim on Saturday officially declared a cholera outbreak in the country.

"The lab test of watery diarrhea at the Public Health Laboratory proves it to be cholera," Ibrahim said in a statement.

The announcement came shortly after the World Health Organization (WHO) said that about 316 people died of cholera in Sudan, Xinhua news agency reported.

On Friday, WHO's spokesperson Margaret Harris reportedly said in a media call that 11,327 cholera cases with 316 deaths had been reported in Sudan, and that dengue fever and meningitis infections were also on the rise.

She also said that the WHO expects the actual number of cholera infections is higher than what had been reported.

Since the war broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, epidemic diseases such as cholera, malaria, measles, and dengue fever have spread, leaving hundreds dead.

The deadly conflict between the SAF and the RSF has resulted in the loss of at least 16,650 lives. An estimated 10.7 million people are now internally displaced in Sudan, with approximately 2.2 million others seeking refuge in neighboring countries, according to most recent UN data.