South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The transitional unity government will soon take charge of the multi-million donor support health fund in a bid to strengthen health care service delivery across the country.
The new Health Sector Transformation Project (HSTP) which replaces the Health Pooled Fund (HPF) after 12 years of implementation, establishes a nationwide health service delivery platform, led by the Ministry of Health in partnership with the World Bank and other donor partners, according to a joint statement issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in Juba.
Yolanda Awel Deng, the minister of health said that they are grateful for the contributions of the HPF over the last decade in supporting the government deliver lifesaving health services for the population across some of the most vulnerable and hard to reach parts of the country.
“The program has been instrumental in delivering essential medicine and health supplies, training health workers and strengthening our fragile health system,” Deng said.
It noted that UNICEF and WHO will support the implementation of health service delivery and strengthening the health system respectively as managing organizations. “
The HPL will phase out support to the provision of essential health service delivery on June 30, and transition into the Health Sector Transformation Project from July 1, 2024.
“We are excited to progress into this new phase of health service delivery across the whole nation through the HSTP led and owned by the government. We are aiming to have a more integrated, and strengthened national health system to improve the health and wellbeing of all men women and children, and tackle the health challenges we face today and in the future,” Deng said.
The Health Pooled Fund, which started in October 2012, was implemented through three phases in up to 8 States across South Sudan.
It has supported millions of people in South Sudan by providing access to good quality basic health services and supporting the government to build the foundations for the provision of quality healthcare for its own people.
The Health Pooled Fund was jointly funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Sweden; the European Union delegation, and GAVI the Vaccine Alliance, and delivered by a Fund Manager consortium led by Crown Agents and supported by Montrose, International Procurement Agency, as well as a number of NGO implementing partners.
The Health Sector Transformation Project (HSTP) begins in July and is aiming to scale up support to about 1158 health facilities across the 10 states and 3 administrative areas over the 3-year project lifetime.
