Cholera, malaria still on the rise in Sudan

An expert team from the WHO headquarters in Geneva that specialises in cholera forecasting visited Sudan last week. They estimate that there may be between 5,000 and 13,200 cholera cases in the next six months in high risk states of Sudan. The projections are created based on the pattern of previous cholera/acute watery diarrhoea outbreaks from 2016 to 2018.

In its latest situation report published today, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) projects that there may be between 5,000 and 13,200 cholera cases in the next 6 months in high risk states of Sudan.

Sennar

Wad El Nil Hospital in Sennar State received three new cases of cholera on Wednesday. Mawahib Gismallah, the director of the Department of Emergency and Epidemic Response in Sennar State told Radio Dabanga that the number of cases of cholera in the isolation ward in Wad El Nil was 11, while the isolation centres in Singa and El Souki did not record new cases on Wednesday.

She pointed that the total cumulative number of cases of disease in Sennar has amounted to 58.

North Darfur

In two days, the cases of malaria have risen in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, to 2080 according to statistics from 20 health centres in the city on Saturday and Sunday.

Abdelmutal Saboun, a member of El Fasher Youth Initiative, told Radio Dabanga that the survey covered three hospitals in El Fasher, including El Fasher Teaching Hospital, which received on Saturday 670 cases of malaria.

He added that on the same day, El Zahra Centre received 570 cases with 450 other cases in Sayed El Shuhada Centre in El Fasher.

Saboun pointed out that according to the survey conducted the daily rate of malaria is 650 cases.

He explained that the Youth Initiative to combat malaria started its activities on Friday after their arrival from Khartoum as part of a youth initiative supported by some Sudanese abroad with medicines to fight and raise awareness.

He appealed to the responsible authorities, humanitarian organisations and philanthropists to take immediate action to combat malaria epidemic in El Fasher, where health centres are facing a shortage of laboratory tools and human and health cadres amid the urgent need for rapid examination tools.

Federal Health Minister Akram El Tom said that what happened in North Darfur of the spread of malaria and the death of a number of cases was due to the lack of distribution of medicines related to malaria from the state drug stores to centres and hospitals.

El Tom said, according to the Minister of Information to the Cabinet at its meeting on Tuesday, that the failure to distribute these medicines in a timely manner has caused the spread of cases of malaria, stressing that this is a clear deficiency as a result of poor service delivery or artificial failure for deliberate reasons.

He said that the Cabinet has directed the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Sudan to provide sufficient financial support to open funds for the importation of necessary medicines and facilitate the work of national and foreign organisations to participate in the fight against epidemics in the states concerned.

He explained that the Minister of Labour and Social Development will issue a decision to stop the permissions that were in place in the past in dealing with organisations and to notify the ministry to facilitate the work of organisations working in the field of health.

The Ministry of Health in North Darfur announced that nine people have died of malaria in El Fasher Teaching Hospital from July until Wednesday. Yesterday, the state recorded 601 confirmed cases of malaria in a health centre in El Fasher. The Sudanese Doctors Central Committee reported 4,767 cases of malaria in Tawila locality in North Darfur state in September.

Red Sea state

In eastern Sudan, the Ministry of Health in the Red Sea state confirmed that the fevers that have infected Haya locality villages as cryptic malaria, while the fevers that hit Arbaat area have not been diagnosed.

El Fatih El Rabee, director general of the state’s Health Ministry, told Radio Dabanga about sending samples from Arbaat area for examination and diagnosis, pointing out that the state is one of the areas of dengue fever.

He said that a number of cases were transferred from Arbaat to Port Sudan for treatment.

Red Crescent volunteers have confirmed the death of three cases and the infection of 30 others with unknown fevers at Magari in Haya locality and Arbaat.

On Wednesday, doctors of Bahri Hospital in Khartoum North staged a protest in front of the hospital administration buildings demanding to create the environment of the hospital and provide equipment and medicines.

Kassala

In eastern Sudan, the doctors of Kassala Teaching Hospital threatened to go on strike starting on Friday, in the event that their demands for the establishment of the hospital environment and the provision of equipment and basic needs are not met.

The Sudanese Doctors Central Committee reported 70 cases of dengue fever and 30 cases of malaria accompanied by blood platelet decrease in eastern Sudan’s Kassala in two days.

Their report stressed that no deaths have been recorded. The report called on the concerned authorities to intervene immediately and quickly to combat the carrier.

OCHA

In its latest situation report published today, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) highlights:

• Number of suspected cholera cases continues to rise, with 187 cases—including eight deaths—reported in Blue Nile and Sennar states as of 25 September 2019.
• Federal Ministry of Health has requested Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) to target 1.6 million people in high risk areas of Blue Nile and Sennar states.
• Forecasts estimate up to 13,200 cholera cases in the next 6 months in high risk states of Sudan.
• Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey have been assisting flood relief efforts in Sudan.

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