HIGHLIGHTS
• A sub-national measles campaign is targeting more than 4 million children in five states of Sudan during 22-30 May 2016.
• South Sudanese continue to arrive in Sudan as a result of conflict and deteriorating food security conditions in South Sudan.
• UNHAS announces provisional direct flights between El Fasher and Sortony, North Darfur.
• An inter-agency mission to the Anka area in North Darfur has reported that 15,000 people in the area need assistance.
In this issue
Sub-national measles vaccination starts P.1
South Sudanese influx into Sudan P.2
UNHAS flights to Sortony, North Darfur P.3
Inter-agency mission to Anka, North Darfur P.4
Measles vaccination campaign starts in five states
On 22 May, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Sudan, the World Health Organizaton (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched a sub-national measles campaign in six states – Blue Nile, North Kordofan, South Kordofan, White Nile, and Sennar – targeting more than 4 million children aged from 6 months to 15 years. The campaign will run till 30 May and cover the new South Sudanese arrivals in these states as well. The campaign is complementary to the campaigns implemented in 2015 that covered ten states when 9.5 million children were vaccinated. The vaccination campaign has already been completed in West Kordofan State where 728,586 children were vaccinated against measles, indicating coverage of 99 per cent of the target.
The effect of the previous campaign is a reduction of measles cases compared to the same period of the last year. In 2015, up to week 19 there were 2,498 confirmed measles cases and 38 deaths compared to 1,073 confirmed cases and 10 deaths reported this year by the end of the week 19 (13 May 2016), according to the MoH. In addition, there has been reduction of case fatality, especially in Red Sea, Central Darfur and West Darfur states.
WHO supported the campaign by mobilising WHO technical staff at the state level to support the implementation of the campaign. WHO’s support entails efforts to ensure good quality campaign, meet the objectives whilst reaching the expected results; and financial support to fill the gap for the campaign. UNICEF procured vaccines and supplies for the campaign and supported social mobilisation to enhance the coverage.
South Sudanese continue to arrive in Sudan
South Sudanese continue to arrive in Sudan as a result of conflict and deteriorating food security conditions in South Sudan. As of 22 May 2016, about 69,000 people are estimated to have arrived in various states in Sudan since January. East Darfur is hosting close to 46,000 people representing 66 per cent of all the new arrivals in 2016. An additional 5,324 people have arrived in Bileil camp in South Darfur and have been registered by Sudan’s Commissioner of Refugees (COR). In West Kordofan, 7,241 arrivals have been reported by the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC); and in White Nile, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS) have registered over 9,000 since the beginning of 2016 (please see the table on page 2 for details).
According to UNHCR’s latest update on 12 May, 226,950 South Sudanese arrived in Sudan since December 2013. While the number of new South Sudanese arrivals in Sudan in 2016 is 75 per cent more than 39,622 arrivals registered by UNHCR during the same period last year, the level of funding provided is significantly lower. UNHCR and parterns are updating the response plan for the new arrivals from South Sudan for 2016 and are revising the figures accordingly.