State health ministries: ‘yellow fever claims 134 lives’

News reports received on Tuesday November 20 read that the total number of cases of the yellow fever epidemic has reached 518, while the death toll has reached a number of 134 cases across Darfur, Radio Dabanga learned.
The numbers published on Tuesday are based on statistics from the state health ministries of Central, South and West Darfur.
On Monday, the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) and UNAMID conducted a meeting at UN Development Programme’s headquarters in Khartoum. Both parties raised their concerns about the outbreak of yellow fever in Darfur and reviewed the steps being taken to assist the Government of Sudan in mitigating the epidemic. 
West Darfur: 45 dead
Ahmed Ishaq, West Darfur’s health minister announced the start of the yellow fever vaccination campaign in four of the state’s localities on Wednesday. The minister disclosed to Radio Dabanga that the number of deaths caused by the epidemic rose to 45 on Tuesday, while the total number of cases reached 137.
Ishaq said that the campaign will start in the localities of Kereinek, Baida, El-Geneina and Habila, describing the residents’ responses as ‘significant’.
Additionally, West Darfur’s health minister said that approximately 950.000 vaccines have arrived to West Darfur. He stated that the preparation work for the campaign has been completed.
Central Darfur: 73 dead
At the same time, Central Darfur’s Health Minister Abdullah Mousa announced an increase in the number of deaths to 73 and a total number of 309 have been infected.
Mousa disclosed to Radio Dabanga that all preparatory work for the campaign, which will start on Wednesday, has been completed. The minister added that the campaign was due to start on Tuesday, according to the Federal Health Minister’s statement.
Central Darfur’s health minister said that the start of the campaign was delayed with one day due to the conditions in the state as well as the unavailability of the airport, which reportedly caused a delay in the arrival of the vaccines to Zalingei.
He announced that the campaign will start in the state’s four localities of Zalingei, Nertity, Wadi Saleh and Azum, adding that the remaining (four) localities will be included in the next phase of the campaign.
South Darfur: 16 dead
Simultaneously, South Darfur’s Health Minister Ahmed al-Tayyeb Ibrahim proclaimed that the death toll in the state has reached 16, while the total number of cases has reached 72.
The minister revealed to Radio Dabanga that the vaccines against yellow fever arrived on Tuesday, stressing that they will be distributed to the localities with the highest incident rates at first, to start the campaign as soon as possible.
When asked about the number of localities targeted by the campaign, the minister refused to comment. He explained that he was not able to disclose the exact localities due to safety reasons, but affirmed that all affected areas will be included.