Medical facilities are as scarce as literate Sudanese outside Khartoum. Years ago the country had 158 hospitals with a total capacity of 17,205 beds. There were 220 health centers, 887 dispensaries, 1,619 dressing stations and 1,095 primary healthcare units. Although there were 2,122 physicians and 12,871 nurses working in the country, you can expect less than one doctor and nine hospital beds per 10,000 people. Don't expect squat in the rebel-held south. Some healthcare is provided free of charge through any NGOs, but keep in mind the north loves to bomb hospitals (they use that nice red X to line up on before they kick the 500 pounders out the back of the Antonovs. Travelers entering Egypt from Sudan will need to produce either a certificate of vaccination against yellow fever or a location certificate showing that they have not been in a yellow fever area. A valid cholera certificate is required of travelers arriving from infected areas.
Malaria, typhoid, rabies and polio are endemic. Bilharzia is also present, and visitors should stay out of slow-moving freshwater. Other prominent diseases include amoebic and bacterial dysentery, cerebral malaria, giardiasis (a hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola) and guinea worm. The latter affliction is quite nasty. The eggs of the worm are ingested through river water. After hatching, the larvae cruise the blood system until finding a suitable home, where they mature and proceed to eat their way out of the body.
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