Feel It: Dengue Fever
By: Hafiya Elyas
hafielyas@yahoo.com
Dengue fever remains one of the top causes of health emergencies in Sudan. The disease places a major burden on population health, further exacerbated by poor access to basic health care services following years of underfunding of the health care system.
Medics in Sudan have warned that cases of cholera and dengue fever are spreading due to the arrival of seasonal rains and the impact of more than five months of war on a health system that was already struggling before fighting began.
Federal Minister of Health, Haitham Mohammed Ibrahim confirmed the decline of cholera in Kassala State this week noting an increase in cases of dengue fever .The eastern part of Sudan has experienced repeated outbreaks of dengue .
Port-Sudan has been known as an endemic area for dengue since the 1980s, with repeated dengue outbreaks in recent years particularly since 2005 . It was assumed that dengue disease was imported from Port-Sudan to Kassala.
DF is considered a major public health issue in the eastern region of the country, where it has been reported since 1908 , with endemicity and frequent outbreaks in the coastal and sub-coastal areas of the Red Sea and Kassala states .
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) 2009 case classification, dengue is classified into dengue without warning signs, dengue with warning signs and severe dengue. It is important to recognise the warning signs such as abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, mucosal bleeding, lethargy and fluid accumulation as it may progress to severe dengue.
Even dengue patients without warning signs can develop severe dengue. Dengue fever with warning signs and severe dengue require aggressive emergency treatment and hospitalisation.
Sudan is going through an important and very difficult phase, all efforts must be joined to achieve the goals to build a new Sudan free of diseases and epidemics so that the citizens can enjoy good health .
Health is Wealth, if we are not healthy (do not feel in a state of physical, mental, and social well-being), Wealth means nothing to us. We should always be healthy.