Meeting between Governor Jadalla and VP Abdelbagi on cholera outbreak. December 7, 2024. (Photo: CES/Facebook).

Central Equatoria Governor Augustino Jadalla directed the Juba City Council and health authorities to ensure city residents practice good hygiene to protect themselves against a fast spreading cholera outbreak across the country.

Jadalla spoke on Saturday in a meeting with Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi Akol – attended by the state’s public health officials – to discuss collaborative efforts in mitigating the cholera outbreak.

In a press statement, his office said the governor emphasized joint JCC and Ministry of Health efforts in regulating and ensuring practice of good hygiene in public places and homes within Juba City.

It was stated that Jadalla directed the municipal and health authorities to double their efforts in mitigating the outbreak and pledged the State leadership’s full support in ensuring that the situation is mitigated.

Dr. James Wani, Director General at the Central Equatoria State Ministry of Health said that the meeting focused at combating the health crisis, while Juba Mayor Johnson Shuka Nishak pledged to step up efforts to curb the outbreak in the three blocks of Juba City Council.

Cholera is a deadly disease transmitted through the ingestion of contaminated food or water, leaving patients with severe acute watery diarrhea and it can kill within hours if left untreated, according to WHO.

Most people infected with V. cholerae do not develop any symptoms, although the bacteria are present in their feaces for 1–10 days after infection and are shed back into the environment, potentially infecting other people.

Among people who develop symptoms, the majority have mild or moderate symptoms and a minority of patients develop acute watery diarrhea with severe dehydration.

South Sudan declared a cholera outbreak on 28th October with thousands of cases so far according to a medical aid group and rapid spread that has prompted the government to describe the situation as significant public health challenge.

At a press briefing on 17th November, Health Minister Yolanda Awel Deng said the outbreak has spread beyond the epicenter in Renk to Malakal, Juba, Aweil and other parts of the country exacerbated by the prevailing humanitarian crises including the influx of people from war-torn Sudan.

She said the health ministry has established an incident management system (IMS) to ensure a multi-sectoral cholera response and prevention including enhancing surveillance and laboratory capacity.

On December 6, CES Ministry of Health declared 169 cholera cases and nine deaths while Northern Bahr el Ghazal reported 143 suspected cases as the water-borne disease threatens to spiral out of control in the country.

CES Health Minister Najwa Juma Mursal said the majority of the cases spread across nine Payams of Juba County and 3 blocks of Juba City Council.

Ms. Mursal said health authorities have been working to contain the spread of the disease, while emphasizing the importance of hygiene and sanitation in the affected areas.

On December 4, the Chairperson of Juba’s Internally Displaced Persons camp 3 said three people have died of suspected cholera cases and nine others have been admitted to hospital with similar symptoms.

Elijah Hon described the hygiene and sanitation situation in the camp as tragic and called on the government and humanitarian partners to intervene and save lives.

He said the local hospital is closed after the International Medical Corps (IMC) which previously managed it left, adding that there is no other public health facility in the camp.

Further, Unity State has recorded 195 cholera cases and five related deaths while Jonglei State reported 15 such cases.

The Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on December 6, that it was deeply concerned about a rapidly escalating cholera outbreak in Malakal of Upper Nile state where 737 cases have since been recorded.

MSF said the hundreds of cases in Malakal were recorded from when the outbreak was declared on on 28th October to 3rd December, adding that the charity’s hospital treated 646 of those patients.

In its report released on Friday, MSF said by 3rd December, a total of 1,526 suspected and confirmed cholera cases had been recorded across South Sudan, with the numbers continuing to rise rapidly.

The outbreak was initially declared in Renk County – a major entry point for refugees and returnees from Sudan – and the relief organization stated that inadequate living and hygiene conditions have contributed to cholera’s spread.

Over 850,000 people have crossed from Sudan into South Sudan over the past 18 months, around 75 per cent of them through the Renk crossing into Upper Nile state.

MSF said the ongoing influx of refugees and returnees into South Sudan continues to pose risks to the already fragile situation and puts additional pressure on an already much overstretched health system.

On December 1, the Ministry of Health, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), has secured over 282,153 doses of oral cholera vaccine to initiate a vaccination campaigns in cholera transmission hotspots across the country.

The oral cholera vaccine (OCV) is supplied by the International Coordinating Group (ICG), which coordinates and manages the global stockpile of vaccines for countries during cholera outbreaks, WHO said in a statement.

It added that the drugs consignment will be used to implement a two-dose mass vaccination campaign in Renk and Malakal Counties of Upper Nile State.