UNICEF launches measles-rubella catch-up campaign in Darfur to protect 6 million children

Highlights

UNICEF, in collaboration with health authorities and partners is launching a catch-up immunization campaign targeting six million children in Sudan’s Darfur States.  Across Sudan, measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases are resurging as immunity gaps widen. Outbreaks have already been reported in several localities, with a growing risk of large-scale transmission in overcrowded camps and remote communities. Measles vaccine coverage has dropped to 46 per cent, and routine immunization, as measured by the first dose of the Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis vaccine (DTP1), fell to just 48 per cent in 2024, threatening decades of progress in child health.