The COVID-19 pandemic remains a public health concern affecting millions of families including the most vulnerable population.

The World Health Organization (WHO) with funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting the Ministry of Health, Republic of South Sudan in fighting the spread of COVID-19 in order to minimize infection and protect the communities.

South Sudan is one of the countries that continues to face a huge burden of disease outbreaks.  The country confirmed its first COVID-19 case on 5 April 2020 and has since recorded 18 048 cases and 138 deaths from COVID-19.  

In response to this challenge, WHO and other partners have been supporting the Ministry of Health to enhance the preparedness and response interventions in line with the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005).

To scale up the use of COVID-19 testing across the country, WHO trained 98 rapid response teams in 10 states and 3 administrative areas and delivered laboratory as well as infection prevention and control supplies to strengthen the capacity of laboratories.  

“Thanks to USAID, we were able to send more than 100 COVID-19 samples to Uganda Virus Research Institute for genomic sequencing of which 34 samples yielded complete high-coverage genome”, said Dr Fabian Ndenzako, WHO Representative a.i. in South Sudan. USAID’s support to the COVID-19 response helps save and protect lives.

To combat the global pandemic, the United States Government donated 656 950 doses of the Johnson and Johnson ‘Janssen’ vaccine to the people of South Sudan in its response to COVID-19.   

As part of its support for COVID-19 response activities at national, subnational and community levels, WHO in collaboration with Ministry of Health and other partners are scaling up vaccination through intensified COVID-19 vaccination optimization campaign reaching the most vulnerable communities who are facing humanitarian situations such as floods, food insecurity, conflict and displacement.

To date, 1.9 million South Sudanese are fully vaccinated with 26% supported by WHO through the WHO led intensified COVID-19 vaccination optimization campaign in 34 of the 80 counties in South Sudan

To support the vaccine drive, community leaders are helping to strengthen public confidence on the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines. “I am happy my people have received the vaccine,” says Mr Peter Bornalia Kuajo, the Deputy Community Leader, Mankaru Boma, Mangala IDP Camp. “Over 50 people vaccinated in less than one hour today is clearly an indication that people in my community really are waiting for the vaccines and ready to receive them”.

Technical contacts:
Mr Malick Gai, Email: gaim [at] who.int (gaim[at]who[dot]int)
Dr Brendan Dineen, Email: dineenb [at] who.int (dineenb[at]who[dot]int)