The number of suspected measles cases has reached at least 40 at Abyei Hospital in the contested territory between Sudan and South Sudan, a senior health official said.
Yusuf Lal Ayom, the Director of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in the Abyei Area Administration, told Radio Tamazuj that about 40 suspected measles cases among children were recorded at Abyei Hospital recently.
Ayok pointed out that a vaccination campaign against the disease started over the weekend in Abyei in an attempt to reduce the number of suspected cases.
The EPI director added that a joint team from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF is vaccinating children in the area. The campaign targets 35,000 children from birth to 15 years old. He explained that the program will end Wednesday.
Last week, Lal Ayom said that about 28 measles cases among children were recorded at Abyei Hospital. He pointed out that routine vaccination against six childhood diseases has stopped in Abyei since 2011.
Correction: The number of suspected measles cases reported by Dr. Yusuf is 40, not 80 as stated initially in this report prior to correction.