South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The United States embassy in Juba has handed over 96 test kits of monkey pox reagents to the public health laboratory to ensure rapid testing of the suspected mpox cases in Juba and across the country.
“The U.S. Embassy delivered 96 kits of mpox reagents to the South Sudan National Public Health Laboratory to ensure rapid testing of suspected mpox cases in South Sudan,” said US in a statement.
The statement revealed that the test kits were provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), citing that the U.S Embassy in Juba will continue to provide technical assistance on preparing for and responding to a potential mpox outbreak in South Sudan.
“This includes CDC support for building local capacity in disease surveillance through the South Sudan Field Epidemiology Training Program, which has trained 177 skilled field epidemiologists at all levels of South Sudan’s health system,” it said.
The statement further disclosed that the expertise of the much needed field epidemiologists is currently used to support Ministry of Health efforts for a timely and responsive disease surveillance system in South Sudan.
“The United States will continue its support of life-saving medical care for the South Sudanese people. At the same time, we call on the transitional government to increase its use of public revenue to support the health sector,” it said.
In August, the minister of health, Yolanda Awel Deng Juach revealed that South Sudan was free of mpox despite registering 28 suspected cases from states including Western Equatoria state and Central Equatoria state.
