Juba – South Sudan faces recurring public successfully being threats from infectious disease outbreaks to local weather-associated emergencies comparable to floods, drought and heat waves. As of August 2025, South Sudan had active outbreaks of Anthrax, Cholera, Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus Form 2 (cVDPV2), Viral Hepatitis E, Measles and Mpox. At the identical time, floods had inundated 16 successfully being amenities and displaced more than 56,000 households with nearly 200,000 of us. Dilapidated successfully being methods, limited infrastructure, and a excessive burden of zoonotic ailments lengthen the impacts of these dangers. In flip, it’s mandatory that the nation prioritizes building preparedness, preventive and detection capabilities as a technique to mitigate the successfully being impacts.
In 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) nation location of job, with funding from the World Bank, equipped technical toughen and convening national companions to conduct a Joint External Evaluate (JEE). First convening in-nation companions, the one-successfully being division coordinated the JEE self-overview. The JEE self-overview repot became once then subjected to an international glance review train facilitated by the WHO Emergencies Hub in Nairobi, Resolve to Build lives in Cairo and independent consultants from plenty of African member states. The JEE final document validated by the glance review mechanism grew to grow to be the blueprint and baseline against which the National Action Thought for Health Security (NAPHS) would be constructed.
In a six months interactive project, involving all the one-successfully being line ministries, departments and companies, a NAPHS became once developed. The idea became once informed by a) the experiences and classes learnt from the 1st generation NAPHS that ended in 2024; b) the strategic aspiration of the nation to give a snatch to the core capacities for IHR implementation over the next 5 years; c) dig deep into the key interventions and actions required to gain the IHR core capacities; d) the need to hang a extraordinary monitoring and review framework that will seemingly be historical to monitor implementation of the idea. The NAPHS became once then subjected to a national glance-review and validation mechanism before it became once adapted in May maybe 2025.
The South NAPHS covering the fiscal years between 2025 and 2030 is a comprehensive, multi-sectoral roadmap to strengthen the nation’s core capacities to prevent, detect, and retort to successfully being emergencies, in line with International Health Guidelines (IHR 2005). It’s miles a idea that embodies the spirit of “one-Health” integrating human, animal, and environmental successfully being methods to handle the main public successfully being threats profiled in the nation using the WHO strategic tool for assessing risk. The South Sudan NAPHS is costed and estimated to require US bucks 118 million. Fifty percent of the 5-yr estimated budget is to duvet interventions in the preparedness/prevention thematic areas. An further 10% of the NAPHS mark estimates were planned for strengthening surveillance and laboratory networking mandatory for timely detection of public successfully being threats.
“The proposed NAPHS investment is projected to attach the Nation about 288 million bucks (135 million bucks’ price of outbreaks avoided, 113 million bucks in outbreaks saved from early outbreaks detection and an further 40 million bucks saved in effectivity and effectiveness of response” mentioned Honorable Sarah Cleto Rial, Minister for Health.
The NAPHS (2025-2030) launched by the Minister for Cabinet Affairs, in the presence of the Ministers for Health, Livestock and Fisheries, Environment and Forestry, Agriculture and Meals Security, Flora and fauna Conservation and Tourism, Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, represents the very most real looking level of political dedication to national successfully being security and one successfully being approach. The launching match became once additionally timed to be one month before the 2024 amendments to international successfully being guidelines advance into force in September 2025. Nevertheless most importantly, the launch represented a flag off to instant implementation of the NAPHS 2025-2030. The match ended with firm dates on the a) NAPHS resource Mapping workshop (in September), b) NAPHS annual operational planning workshop (additionally in September) and c) the NAPHS implementation tracker to be completed by October 2025.
The WHO nation location of job with toughen from the regional location of job and headquarters equipped technical expertise, mobilization facilitation of the national and international glance reviewers, and facilitation of the total pattern project. In flip, the South Sudan NAPHS is an proof-primarily primarily based product as guided by the JEE findings, risk profiling in response to the WHO strategic tool for assessing risk (WHO/STAR tool), NAPHS tool equipment and NAPHS costing tool. Secondly, WHO in her convening roles introduced together over 80 consultants from human successfully being, animal successfully being, environmental successfully being, and security sectors to originate and co-gain the 2025-2030 NAPHS for South Sudan. Third, WHO assured that the South Sudan NAPHs became once aligned with International Frameworks (2024 amended IHR, International Health Security Agenda and the tripartite dedication to one successfully being approach made by UN/FAO, OIE and WHO
“With the NAPHS and One Health Strategic Thought, South Sudan authorities has spoken and location a transparent pathway to defend the successfully being of its of us, animals, and ambiance. This achievement is a testomony to what solid authorities leadership, companion collaboration, and WHO technical toughen can bring.” Stated Dr. Humphrey Karamgi, WHO Representative for South Sudan.
South Sudan joins Eswatini, Ethiopia, Republic of South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, and Uganda to complete the 2nd generation NAPHS. The Minister for Cabinet Affairs in his launching speech mentioned “South Sudan is the youngest nation but stands broad in accepting challenges and solutions for national pattern. South Sudan is additionally conscious that it must paddle, if it is miles going to reach where her sister nations are. In flip, he congratulated the Ministry of Health and the line-ministries for pushing the nation to join the East African neighbours in the pride-parade of complete NAPHS” mentioned Hon Martin Elia Lomuro, Minister for Cabinet Affairs
When totally performed, the South Sudan NAPHS is anticipated to:
• Stop the likelihood and minimize the penalties of outbreaks and Public Health Occasions (PHEs).
• Strengthen and sustain national capacities for early detection, suggested response to PHEs and recovery
• Lengthen and give a snatch to One-Health Multi-sectoral partnerships.
• Facilitate an enabling ambiance and restoring belief in the complete-of-society approach to PHEs administration
• To place and maintain the core capacities at designated ports of entry for routine and timely detection and suggested response to any rotten-border hazards.
• To method and align existing and potential domestic and exterior sources for NAPHS implementation.
• Produce an efficient monitoring and review machine for successfully being security.
