Polio cases increase in Sudan, malaria rife in North Darfur

The Health Emergencies Committee of El Gezira, south of Khartoum, reported four new cases of polio in the state. In North Darfur, nearly 60,000 people are stricken by malaria. Between October 10 and 18, 39 new coronavirus patients were recorded in the country.

The cases were separately registered in the localities of Greater Wad Madani, Um El Gura, East El Gezira, and El Hasaheisa. In North Darfur, nearly 60,000 people are suffering from malaria.  

This month, a polio vaccination campaign will start in the state.  

The federal Ministry of Health declared an outbreak of polio in Sudan on August 9, after the first two cases of vaccine-derived polio type 2 were confirmed in South Darfur and in El Gedaref.

Five days later, nine new cases were reported in West and East Darfur, White Nile state, El Gezira, Khartoum, River Nile state, and Red Sea state. In September, polio cases were recorded in nine of Kassala’s 11 localities.

At least 5.2 million children under the age of five live in the affected states and will require urgent vaccination, the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan stated on August 14.

About 8.6 million children under the age of five will be immunised during the National Polio Campaign that will commence this month.

Fevers

The North Darfur Ministry of Health has taken measures to combat the spread malaria and Chikungunya in the state.

Doctor Mujtaba El Tijani, Director of Health in North Darfur, reported yesterday that at least 59,450 people are suffering from malaria in the state.

They decided to take random samples to be tested. 22 samples were sent to the Central Laboratory in Khartoum, which confirmed 11 cases of chikungunya.

El Tijani said that 28,000 doses of first-line medicines have been distributed to hospitals in El Fasher and rural hospitals to treat malaria, but “these quantities are not sufficient to treat all patients”.

The first chikungunya cases this year were reported in June, in eastern Sudan’s Kassala. Following heavy rainfall in August and September, at least 41 chikungunya patients were recorded in West Darfur and 11 others in North Darfur in October.

The unusually heavy rainy season has made control of vectors such as mosquitoes extra challenging. In Northern State, 79 of the reported 1,962 Rift Valley Fever patients died of the disease since early September.

COVID-19

The increase in coronavirus cases is still low. The Sudanese Ministry of Health reported on Sunday (October 18) 39 new COVID-19 patients in the country since October 10. The majority of the cases was registered in Khartoum.

So far, 13,724 people in Sudan have tested positive on the coronavirus this year. 836 patients died and 6,764 recovered.

The Central Pharmacists’ Committee warned on Thursday of catastrophic effects due to an almost complete lack of essential, life-saving, and chronic disease drugs across the country.

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