Yellow fever vaccination campaign in Darfur continues

Sudan :

Yellow fever vaccinati campaign in Darfur continueson

11 December 2012 – The first phase of the vaccination campaign ended on 7 December 2012. Results for the first phase are under way as vaccination coverage is currently being assessed by independent monitoring teams. Pending feedback from some mobile teams, the vaccination coverage per area: North Darfur – 97%, South Darfur- 97% and West Darfur – 94%.

The outbreak has affected 34 localities in Central, South, West, North, and East Darfur. As of 9th December, the total number of suspected cases has reached 788, including 166 deaths (case fatality rate of 21.1%).

On 9 December 2012, the additional 1.3 million doses of yellow fever vaccine for the second phase of the vaccination campaign scheduled to commence on 15 December 2012 were received in Khartoum.

Sudan’s Health Minister Bahr Idriss Abu-Garda received around 1.3 million doses of yellow fever vaccine mobilized through the support of the Government of Sweden.  Swedish Ambassador Jan Sadek, WHO Representative in Sudan Dr Anshu Banerjee, as well as other officials from the Health Ministry  joined the Health Minister at Khartoum International Airport. The second phase of the vaccination campaign targets some 1.2 million population in Nyala, Furbaranga, Shataia, Bendacy, and Mokjer.

The Federal Ministry of Health/State Ministry of Health outbreak investigation team has completed its mission in Jebel A’amir (an area known for traditional mining) in western part of North Darfur. The team reported the high coverage of vaccination campaign (92%). However the mission reported that the environmental health situation in the area needs immediate interventions. In addition, the mission collected blood samples from people with jaundice and were delivered to Central Public Health Laboratory in Khartoum.