‘Measles epidemic result of poor govt. funding’: East Darfur official

An official at the East Darfur Ministry of Health has attributed the rise in measles mortality rates to poor government funding and the lack of vaccines. Central Darfur will start polio vaccinations in June.

The director of the Immunisation Department in East Darfur, Abdelrazeg El Dom, told the press in Ed Daein on Thursday that the measles epidemic in Sudan is the result of underfunding by the Sudanese government. The current vaccination campaign only targeted two out of the nine localities of the state, El Ferdous and Bahr El Arab.

The total number of deaths in 2015 has risen to 35, with recent fatalities reported in East Darfur, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan, reported in its weekly bulletin a week ago. 

4,127 suspected cases of measles have been reported in Sudan, with 2,336 cases confirmed by 3 May. The majority of measles cases continue to be reported by hospitals, indicating a high incidence of complicated cases that require inpatient care, the bulletin reads.

The first phase of a measles vaccination campaign, run by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and supported by the UN World Health Organisation (WHO), Unicef, and local health partners, began on 22 April, and lasted for roughly ten days.

About 1.66 million children aged 6 months to 15 years in 28 of the highest risk localities across six states were targeted.

Polio

The children in Central Darfur will be vaccinated against polio in june, Limya Mohamed Daoud, director of the Sudanese Ministry of Health Immunisation Department, announced on Friday. She called upon the mothers to speed up vaccinating their children.

The Health Minister of Central Darfur, Eisa Mohamed Mousa, said that his Ministry is targeting children aged 14 weeks to one year. He pointed out that the vaccination campaign will include the areas on the borders with Chad and the Central African Republic.