83 new suspected Cholera cases reported in Sudan’s Red Sea state
December 13, 2023 (PORT SUDAN) – The General Department of Emergency and Epidemic Control of Sudan’s Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday that 83 new suspected cases of cholera were recorded in Red Sea State on Tuesday.
The cholera vaccination campaign in Gedaref and Gezira states concluded last November, after receiving 2.2 million vaccine doses as the first batch from the Global Mechanism for the Elimination of Cholera.
The Technical Committee for Emergency and Epidemic Control reviewed its cumulative report on the disease during its meeting with the State Health Sector Director General on Wednesday at the Emergency Operations Center in Port Sudan. The number of acute watery diarrhoea (cholera) cases in the state reached 1,702, including 63 deaths, from the time of the first notification in October to December 12th.
The statement from the General Department of Emergency, obtained by Sudan Tribune, indicated that the number of suspected cases on Tuesday reached 83, including 42 in Suakin locality, 27 in Port Sudan locality, and the remaining cases in Tokar, Sankat, Haya, Qanab, Oliba, and Aqiq localities.
The meeting heard reports on environmental health, the public health laboratory, infection control, interventions, rapid response teams, disease surveillance, reports of isolation centres, totalling 7 centres, follow-up and supervisory visits to targeted localities, and monitoring of the current situation.
The statement added that the meeting discussed daily intervention packages and schedules of implemented activities, as well as addressing challenges faced in strengthening and sustaining field intervention packages.
The meeting also emphasized intensifying interventions in environmental health activities, providing medical supplies, and conducting rapid examinations in isolation centres and hospitals to expedite case sorting.
The cholera epidemic erupted in Gedaref and Khartoum states last September before spreading to other states, including Al-Jazira, the Red Sea, and the White Nile, where it is projected to infect over three million Sudanese, according to the United Nations.
Since mid-April, fighting has been ongoing between Sudanese forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum, with the conflict expanding to several states in the Darfur and Kordofan regions.
(ST)