National Public Health Act of 2008.

This Act consisting of 35 articles and II Annexes aims at protecting the health of the human being in Sudan. It establishes the Public Health Co-ordination National Council with the following main tasks (i) lay down the systems and standards of the national health system; (ii) approve the national health policies and strategies; (iii) propose health legislation in co-operation with the competent bodies; (iv) supervise medical researches conducted on human beings and verify their comp ability with the profession ethics, values, traditions and heritages; (v) lay-down the bases and control of monitoring epidemic diseases, and strive to prevent the spreading thereof, combat and eradicate the same, and organize procedure of quarantine; and (vi) organize the international relations in the field of health. The Act deals also with (i) communicable and epidemic diseases and their reporting; (ii) prohibition to travel or enter an intended destination for a patient of a communicable diseases or suspected of being infected with such diseases, save upon the approval of the competent health authorities; (iii) practice of a profession suspended; (iv) public places closed; (v) closure, or demolishing of buildings, and destruction of luggage and clothes; (vi) children vaccinations; (vii) medical service in emergent cases; (viii) right to free treatment (in emergent cases, children up to the age of five, pregnant women, and service of the basic health care); and (ix) prohibition of blood-transfusion, abortion and exhumation of tombs without following the procedures specified in arts. 31-33.
The Act establishes also the Health Research National Council with the following main tasks (i) propose the general policies and strategies of the health research; (ii) propose the national plan for health research; (iii) attract subsidy for the health systems research; (iv) specify the polices of dealing with the health and medical innovations, such as reproduction, organs transplanting, genetic engineering; and (v) constitute specialized technical committees.
The II Annexes list epidemic diseases, which shall be reported within a maximum period of 24 hours (List A) and other communicable diseases which have to be reported weekly even if there are no cases (Zero Report) (List B).