South Sudan News

Yambio, 25 March 2019 – The Ministry of Health with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners launched a reactive yellow fever (YF) vaccination campaign in Sakure, Nzara County, Gbudue State to vaccinate 19 578 individuals aged 9 months to 65 years against YF.

The vaccination campaign follows the declaration of a yellow fever outbreak on 29 November 2018, where a total of three laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths have been reported after investigations were carried out in Sakure payam.

18 March 2019, Juba – The World Health Organization and partners conducted a joint inter-cluster needs assessment mission in Dulamaya, Rokon town, South Sudan to address the health needs of over 5000 internally displaced people.

12 March 2019, Juba – The Ministry of Health of South Sudan, World Health Organization, and partners undertook a ground breaking joint mission on 11 March, 2019 to investigate the suspected diarrheal diseases outbreak in the remote and difficult terrain of Kuardeang payam in Fangak South.

Mayom, 6 March 2019 – A campaign to immunize nearly 40,000 children against measles was launched today, 6 March 2019. The campaign is being carried out by the Ministry of Health with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN’s Children Fund (UNICEF) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). It comes after a measles outbreak was recently confirmed in Mayom, former Unity State.

18 February 2019, Juba – To increase access and strengthen the capacity of emergency lifesaving health care services focusing on outbreak response for epidemic-prone and vaccine-preventable diseases, WHO has been procuring, storing and distributing medical emergency kits to support humanitarian response in South Sudan.

12 February 2019, Juba – South Sudan conducted an Ebola virus disease (EVD) Tabletop exercise (TTX) for National Rapid Response Team (NRRT) on 12 February 2019. The exercise aimed at enhancing NRRT’s operational readiness by familiarizing participants with the EVD Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on Rapid Response Team (RRT) activation, deployment and field investigation procedures. It also provided participants with an opportunity to evaluate current capabilities and resources for prompt deployment in response to any suspected EVD case. 

15 February 2019, Juba – In 2016, with support from WHO and partners, South Sudan was the first country in the world to roll out “EWARS in a box,” the early warning, alert and response system (EWARS) that permitted mobile phone-based reporting of priority outbreak-prone diseases from a number of partner-supported health facilities in the conflict-affected areas of the country. 

8 February 2019, Juba – Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is one of the main causes of illness and death among under-five children in South Sudan. In 2019, nearly 260 000 young children are estimated to suffer severe acute malnutrition and, at least, 10 to 15 percent are expected to develop medical complications which can impede intellectual potential and inhibit physical growth, resulting in increased risk of lifelong disability.