Juba, Jan 11 (IANS) – South Sudan’s Ministry of Health has launched a week-long vaccination campaign in Rubkona, a cholera hotspot in Unity State, targeting over 300,000 people. This initiative, supported by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, Médecins Sans Frontières, and other partners, marks a crucial step in controlling the ongoing cholera outbreak. It brings the total number of counties covered by the vaccination campaign to four across the country.
During the campaign’s launch, South Sudan’s Vice President for Service Cluster, Hussein Abdelbagi Akol, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to tackling the cholera outbreak and ensuring the implementation of measures to stop its spread.
“The nationwide rollout of the cholera vaccine is part of our broader efforts to combat the outbreak and save lives,” Akol said in a statement from Juba, the capital.
Rubkona County is one of the 31 regions experiencing cholera outbreaks, with this area accounting for 50% of the reported cases. The vaccination campaign is intended to safeguard vulnerable populations from severe diarrheal diseases.
Minister of Health, Yolanda Awel Deng, urged health sector stakeholders to intensify efforts and ensure timely, effective preventive actions under government leadership. She emphasized the importance of the cholera vaccine, calling it life-saving, and encouraged the community to get vaccinated and follow all precautionary measures.
Since South Sudan declared a cholera outbreak in October 2024, over 17,581 cases have been reported across the nation, with a 1.5% case fatality rate as of January 7, according to UN agencies. With funding from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, more than 1.3 million doses of cholera vaccine have been procured to address the outbreak in the country’s most affected regions.
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