South Sudan News

I must congratulate the Honorable Minister and all the partners for having the courage to convene this important Health Summit.

At the onset I must say what the Summit is and what it is not: It is not a one-off event, but rather the launching of a process to address the myriad of problems facing South Sudan's health sector today. Secondly, it is not a workshop, but a forum for honest discussions to find solutions. I therefore urge all participants to not only bring issues to the table but to proffer solutions.

Excellences, Ladies and gentlemen,

Juba, 31 March 2017 - More than 500 participants took major steps to improve people’s health across local, state and national levels at the third National Health Summit for South Sudan, which concluded today. Considering the challenges and opportunities of delivering health in South Sudan, participants sought to establish a clear vision for health in the years ahead.

Juba, 30 March 2017 - The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to scale up its response to reduce preventable deaths and diseases, and provide health services in famine-affected areas of South Sudan. In February 2017, famine was declared in the former Unity State, where 100 000 people face starvation and another 1 million are on the brink of famine.

Juba, 3 April 2017 - The World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting the Republic of South Sudan’s Ministry of Health and partners to roll-out a new approach to community health service delivery called the Boma Health Initiative. Currently, only 40% of people in South Sudan are within reach of health facilities and have consistent access to primary health care services. The Boma Health Initiative seeks to provide sustainable delivery of essential health care and public health programmes at the community level.

Juba, 7 April 2017 - Under the theme “Depression. Let's talk”, South Sudan has joined the rest of the world to celebrate this year’s World Health Day in a series of activities which culminated with public lecture on depression, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis on 7th April, 2017 at Juba University.

Juba, South Sudan 28 April 2017 – To improve vaccination coverage and reduce the risk of vaccine preventable diseases, the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and partners accelerated  outreach vaccination to strengthen and ensure the continuation of  immunization activities across the country.

Juba, 10 May 2017 - Despite intense insecurity, WHO and partners have delivered urgently needed supplies and services  as part of the UN convoy to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Lainya, South Sudan where the situation has deteriorated as a result of the conflict.

24 May 2017, Juba, South Sudan – The Government of Japan and the World Health Organization (WHO) are to establish the first Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) in Juba.  The USD 0.45 million project that comprises PHEOC’s infrastructure and equipment comes on top of Japan’s multi-year contribution to scaling up of blood transfusion services. The objective of establishing the PHEOC is to strengthen preparedness and response capacities for public health emergencies in line with the International Health Regulations of 2005.