Sudan: Call for Public Health Emergency Amid Dengue Outbreak in Sudan's Blue Nile State

What the report says

AllAfrica, republishing a report by Dabanga dated 22 July 2026, says a civil society group in Sudan’s Blue Nile state is urging authorities to declare a broad public health emergency over a dengue fever outbreak. The Blue Nile Civil Society Initiative has called for Ed Damazin, the state capital, to be shut for one week so containment and sanitation work can be carried out.

According to the report, Ali Hajo, the initiative’s secretary-general, told Radio Dabanga that roughly 4,000 dengue cases had been recorded and that two to four deaths were being reported daily. He said the illness was spreading quickly, especially in northern parts of Ed Damazin, and had also reached Roseries district. Hajo also said the price of intravenous fluids had climbed to about SDG 4,000–5,000 per bag, making treatment unaffordable for many residents amid wider economic hardship.

The report links the outbreak to a broader humanitarian and health-system crisis in Blue Nile. Hajo said displaced people in camps face shortages of water, food and shelter, while recent rains have damaged temporary shelters and exposed vulnerable residents, including women and children, to floodwater and poor weather. He described the state health system as effectively collapsed and criticised official responses as inadequate, saying warnings from civil society and medical workers had gone unanswered for months.

The civil society initiative is asking regional and international health organisations to intervene urgently with free testing, treatment and supplies, particularly intravenous fluids, and wants authorities to allow relief efforts without obstruction. Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease; the World Health Organization has warned that global risk has expanded sharply in recent decades.