Hepatitis E Under Control In Maban County

This article was last updated on May 25, 2022

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The Upper Nile State Health Minister Dr. Charles Yor Odhok has said that the outbreak of the disease started in mid 2012 at Yida camps of Maban County housing Sudanese refugees from South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

The ministry stated that the case of the outbreak in the camps were 9,740 cases with a total of about 182 confirmed dead.

The series of disease infection and attacks in the camps were greatly recorded in Yusuf Batil camp with 60 per cent of cases during the outbreak followed by Jamam camps, Gendrassa camps and Doro camps.

However a total of about 50 cases were recorded among host communities in the county following the outbreak.

In his last visit the minister said that the disease has reduced now in infection due to the intervention put forward by the UN Agencies in Maban.

Last month, UNHCR and the UNICEF carried out the educational campaign of the disease where they taught the community about the disease and control measures following the outbreak.

Hygiene and sanitation were improved and that led to the reduction in the number of cases in the areas, adding that the number of toilet facilities used and the population avoided open air defecation.

The disease affected the refugees that were brought from Sudan’s Blue Nile State due to the war that broke out in the area forcing the number of refugees to flee to the western part of the state.

Last year, the refugee’s influx to Upper Nile increased leading to overcrowding in the camps and that led to the incidence of the disease.

The frequent wars have resulted into massive increase in the refugee number to more than 1,000 at the refugee’s camps.

The camps occupied by the refugees and where the incidence occurs were the Yida, Jamam amongst others.

“The disease only infected the Sudanese’s refugees who were accommodated at the camps,” said Dr. Charles.

The minister said that the water system which was the main point of infection has been improved through installation of water systems and increasing their number.

On March 30, the UN refugee agency opened a new refugee camp (Ajoung Thok camp) in the vicinity with the capacity to accommodate up to 20,000 refugees.

This reduces the number of refugees in Yida camps thus creating ample spaces.

The Ajoung Thok camp provides access to education, health care and livelihood opportunities which has paved way to the reduction of the disease in the area.