Aid Cuts Leave 150,000 South Sudanese IDPs at Risk of Cholera and Other Diseases

By Awan Achiek

At least 150,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Bentiu and Malakal are facing escalating health risks following cuts in humanitarian funding and the withdrawal of aid organizations. This disruption has compromised access to clean drinking water, sanitation, and essential healthcare services, as warned by Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

The funding cuts have left approximately 150,000 IDPs in Bentiu and Malakal without vital water, sanitation, and primary healthcare services.

 MSF has raised alarms about how these reductions are increasing the risks of cholera and other waterborne diseases among these vulnerable populations.

This warning arrives as South Sudan grapples with multiple humanitarian crises, including ongoing conflict, flooding, disease outbreaks, and widespread displacement, leaving millions reliant on humanitarian assistance.

Foued Gamoudi, MSF’s deputy head of operations in South Sudan, urged for sustained humanitarian support to ensure that displaced individuals in Bentiu and Malakal have access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, and essential healthcare services.

“In Malakal, the clock is already running. The transfer of camps to government authorities does not alleviate the humanitarian needs of the people living there,” Gamoudi stated in a press release on Wednesday.

He called on donors and humanitarian actors to take immediate action to reverse funding shortfalls, maintain critical water, sanitation, hygiene, and health services, and prevent a renewed public health emergency.

“As long as people remain in the displacement sites in Bentiu and Malakal, minimum WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene), health, food, and nutrition services must be preserved.”

Gamoudi cautioned that losing these critical services could exacerbate public health conditions and increase the risk of disease outbreaks among the already vulnerable displaced communities.

“This is an urgent call to donors to provide immediate funding to protect people’s dignity, avert a public health emergency, and prevent loss of life,” he emphasized.

 “Support must sustain safe water supplies, functioning latrines, desludging, adequate hand-washing facilities, and primary healthcare.”

On Sunday, Dobuol, a displaced woman living in the Bentiu camp, shared that her community has endured multiple crises, including conflict, flooding, and cholera, while many families remain unable to return to their homes.

Poor waste management, overflowing latrines, and inadequate sanitation in the Bentiu displacement camp continue to expose IDPs to cholera and other waterborne diseases, MSF has warned.

Rebecca Abang, an MSF counselor, noted that garbage often remains uncollected for weeks or even months, while overflowing waste from latrines contaminates drainage channels, worsening sanitation conditions in the camp.

“Sometimes garbage is left uncollected for weeks, even months,” Abang said. “Latrines are not always emptied, and waste flows into the drainage channels.”

In the meantime, MSF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in Bentiu, vaccinated 102,251 people during the second round of oral cholera vaccinations conducted in September 2026.

This campaign reached nearly 75 percent of the targeted population as part of efforts to protect displaced communities from the disease.

However, Patrick Mayen Biel, MSF’s outreach manager in Bentiu, cautioned that vaccination alone will not prevent future cholera outbreaks without improvements in water supply and sanitation.

“Vaccination is an important step, but it cannot work alone,” Biel stated. “Without sustained access to safe drinking water, functioning latrines, and adequate sanitation, people will remain at risk of future outbreaks.”

MSF has warned that funding cuts and the withdrawal of humanitarian organizations threaten essential water, sanitation, hygiene, and healthcare services for displaced people in Bentiu and Malakal.