Government allocates SSP 1 billion to combat cholera outbreak

The Ministry of Finance and Planning on Monday allocated 1 billion South Sudan Pounds to the Ministry of Health to respond to cholera outbreak across the country.

By Awan Achiek

The Ministry of Finance and Planning on Monday allocated 1 billion South Sudan Pounds to the Ministry of Health to respond to cholera outbreak across the country.

The funds aim to strengthen Water, Sanitation, and Health (WASH) Services interventions, risk communication activities, case management and treatment.

Dr. Harriet Akello Pasquale, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Health, told The Dawn on Tuesday that 60 percent of the funds would be directed toward state-level response activities.

 “The money is actually meant to support all the response pillars for cholera. So we have almost like 10 pillars, including coordination, support for Expanded Programme on Immunization, surveillance and laboratory,” said Akello.

“We also are not only supporting activities at the national level, but our main focus was really to ensure that the money goes down to the states to support all the state response activities,” she added.

Akello added the funds will also help preparedness, response, and measures aimed at mitigating the spread of cholera in the States.

“So we allocated to every State that reported cases, and we also allocated a certain amount to those States that did not have any cases, but they also need to have some preparedness activities in place,” she said.

In October 2024, the National Ministry of Health declared a cholera outbreak in Renk, Upper Nile State.

The first suspected case was reported on 28 September 2024 after the County Health Department received a report of a suspected case of cholera at the point of entry in Renk, a border town between Sudan and South Sudan.

This declaration came following reports of 44 suspected cholera cases and six laboratory-confirmed cases on 23 October 2024 in Renk, Upper Nile State.

As of 13 January 2025, the country recorded 19,320 cholera cases with 334 fatalities.

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