Health officials in Sudan’s South Darfur State have raised an alarm following the recent yellow fever outbreak in the neighbouring South Sudan.
The alert was issued during a meeting between the Emergency and Epidemics Department of the Ministry of Health in South Darfur State and its health partner organizations.
The meeting discussed the current health conditions and health threats facing the state in the coming period.
Doctor Hafiz Mohammed Nur, who heads the department, told Radio Tamazuj on Thursday that the yellow fever outbreak in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria State remains one of the health threats facing the South Darfur state.
He said South Darfur State shares a border with South Sudan.
“The meeting discussed preparations to prevent yellow fever cases from entering South Darfur by forming health units at crossing points in border localities, in addition to 23 rapid response teams distributed in the state’s localities,” Nur said.
Nur disclosed that the meeting also touched on training the cadres of the rapid response teams, consisting of six individuals, on how to detect and deal with yellow fever disease.
Nur appealed to the federal government to renew yellow fever vaccination campaigns. He said most cadres recruited to support campaigns against the epidemic in 2013 had left the state.
The last case of yellow fever disease in the state was reported in 2013.