Excessive flooding compounds health crisis in South Sudan

Juba ‒ South Sudan is witnessing just a few of its worst flooding in a protracted time that has precipitated widespread devastation in several points of the country and has to this point left larger than 226 000 of us displaced, homes, livelihood impacted with roads and key infrastructure submerged and several communities devastated.

The floods have affected 42 of South Sudan’s 78 counties. Fifty-eight health services were submerged in five counties and on the topic of 90 others are inaccessible with about 15 main roads prick off, including of us who link to the capital Juba, the build tertiary health services are available. As of 4 October 2024, a total 890 000 of us in flood-affected counties were impacted.

Though heavy downpours during the country’s rainy season between April and November in most cases space off floods, they’ve develop into increasingly severe due to the native weather exchange, stretching communities’ ability to manage with the devastation and in some cases precipitated everlasting displacement of communities.

The floods have exacerbated an already dire humanitarian enlighten. South Sudan is right now hosting practically 800 000 refugees and returnees who’ve fled armed warfare in neighbouring Sudan. In Renk County, in the country’s northern Upper Nile Affirm, in which 60% of refugees and returnees enter South Sudan, two suspected cholera cases were detected. Malaria cases are on the rise, with larger than 120 000 cases and 31  suspected deaths reported as of 29 September 2024. In a period of five weeks, 55 snake bite incidents were reported.

“Individuals are in a heightened teach of vulnerability due to the just a few shocks. WHO is dedicated to work with the Ministry of Health and our partners to guarantee that that they’ve fetch entry to to needed health services continue whereas also prioritizing the response to growing humanitarian and health wants,” says Dr Humphrey Karamagi, World Health Organization (WHO) Marketing consultant in South Sudan.

WHO has dispensed about 88 metric tonnes of emergency health kits to key locations including Renk, Bentiu, Malakal and Bor counties to aid flood-affected communities. The kits can take care of over 870 000 of us and include severe clinical affords corresponding to interagency emergency health kits, cholera investigation and medicine kits, antimalarial medication and snakebite antivenoms. In addition, the Organization has dispensed practically 1300 malaria kits nationwide since January 2024 and prepositioned 20 cholera investigation kits and 9200 stand-by myself cholera speedily diagnostic tests, which is able to examine 9400 samples.

WHO will most seemingly be working with the Ministry of Health in South Sudan to scale up the response to this complex and growing health emergency. The Organization is coordinating the emergency health response collaboration with partners and nowadays oversaw an initial wants speedily assessment in Cueibet county, collecting needed knowledge and training health employees to toughen the emergency response. WHO is working intently with native authorities and neighborhood leaders to provide protection to health services against injury and pass needed clinical affords to safer areas.

In coordination with partner organizations, WHO is continuing to tune the health impacts of floods, with a give attention to vector-borne and water-borne diseases. Within the affected states will most seemingly be coordinating on-the-ground flood response to guarantee that emergency health help reaches the of us in need.

Across the African dwelling, WHO is working with governments to in the efforts to form native weather-resilient health programs that can adapt to emerging threats, whereas continuing to meet existing health wants. Climate exchange gifts a primary menace to human health. Addressing the complexity of native weather-associated health challenges require sturdy excellent, institutional and operational buildings for effective action. This means building scientific proof to illustrate the grunt and indirect health-associated vulnerabilities then using the proof to devise for adaptation and mitigation of native weather exchange impacts on health.

WHO is supporting international locations to draw and enforce measures to better take care of native weather and environmental exchange impacts on health programs, tune nationwide growth in protecting health from native weather effects and prick health programs’ carbon emissions. The Organization is advocating for sustainable investment to form resilient health programs and infrastructure to better withstand native weather shocks and provide protection to weak communities.