A Thai lab technician uses GeneXpert machine in Thailand | Credit | Photo: USAID-funded CAP-TB program

The UN Refugee Agency says it has installed five new Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis machines in five locations in South Sudan.

The new GeneXpert machines are also expected to help in the diagnosis of other diseases like coronavirus, HIV in children, and Ebola virus.

It can also perform viral load testing in hepatitis B for better monitoring and treatment.

“With funding from the Global Fund through IGAD, we procured five of these machines and we have installed them in various locations, including the government hospitals,” said Dr. Gebrewold Petros Yohannes, UNHCR senior public health officer.

The services are in major refugee camps in Upper Nile and Western Equatoria states.

Dr. Yohannes said a fifth machine is expected to be installed at Pariang Hospital.

Similar machines are also being used by the Public Health Laboratory to test coronavirus in Juba.

The Coronavirus Incident Manager, Dr. Richard Laku, said the machines “only need cartridges”.

“So, we are trying to ensure that we have decentralized testing like now we have in Nimule and Bor,” Dr. Laku explained.

He added that such a testing will be soon introduced in Maban, Yambio, Aweil, and Wau.