According to health agencies in Sudan’s White Nile state, a suspected measles outbreak has killed at least 13 youngsters in the previous week.
Officials from Doctors Without Borders, MSF, say the fighting in Sudan and the impending rainy season might further exacerbate the situation.
According to MSF representatives, the rise in probable measles infections among youngsters in Sudan’s White Nile state continues to worry them.
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Speaking to newsmen in Nairobi, Mitchell Sangma, MSF’s health advisor, says MSF’s ground team have documented more than 200 suspected cases of measles among children in the last month.
He says out of that number, 72 were admitted to hospitals and 13 died.
“We are also seeing an increasing number of suspected measles in our other projects such as in Blue Nile state in Sudan. And in Renk, on the other side of the border in South Sudan, we are also seeing increasing measles cases in our measles isolation wards. So, the situation for people fleeing the conflict is desperately concerning,” he said.
The MSF representative claims that the nearly three-month-old fighting in Sudan between the army and a rival paramilitary organisation has increased medical needs and put tremendous pressure on hospitals around the nation.
MSF and other humanitarian organisations are worried about the failing healthcare system, according to Sangma. He claims that health centers that are still in operation are having trouble managing their scarce staff and resources.
According to Sangma, there is a greater risk of disease epidemics among the millions of people who have been forced out of their homes by the war as the rainy season approaches.
The World Health Organisation says six of counties in Unity State, located in the greater Upper West Nile region, have reported cases of measles. Loro Fredrick Beden, WHO’s field coordinator in Unity State, says suspected cases of measles have increased since last week.
In response, Unity State health director Dr. Duol Biem says the government and nonprofit organizations are conducting mass vaccination campaigns to control the spread of the disease.
Biem said Koch, Guit, Rubkona, Leer, Mayendit and Mayom counties have recorded cases of the disease due to the influx of returnees fleeing the conflict in Sudan, and state health workers are working with aid agencies to vaccinate children against the killer disease and control its spread.