Sudan Begins Second Polio Vaccination Phase, Targeting 5 Million Children
Written by AI from unicef.org's report. Not checked by a person.
The second phase of Sudan's nationwide polio campaign launched in the first week of November, aiming to vaccinate five million children across 79 localities in the five Darfur states and West Kordofan, where the target age group was extended to under ten years because older children in those states have lower immunity.
Sudan's Federal Ministry of Health, backed by WHO and UNICEF, launched the second phase of a nationwide polio vaccination drive in early November 2026, targeting five million children across 79 localities in the five Darfur states and West Kordofan. In those states, the eligible age group was extended to children under ten years, because older children there have lower immunity. The campaign uses the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to interrupt the transmission of variant poliovirus, which began circulating in Sudan in December 2024. By 2026, poliovirus has been confirmed in six children and in three wastewater samples. The first phase ran 26–29 October, reaching six million children in 107 localities across 12 states, bringing the campaign's overall target to 11 million children across 186 localities in 18 states. A second full national round is planned approximately one month after the first round concludes. The campaign is also coordinated with neighbouring Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan, which are running simultaneous vaccination drives to protect children moving across shared borders. The effort is an urgent public health response to an active outbreak set against years of armed conflict — ongoing since 2023 — that have severely disrupted Sudan's routine immunisation services.
