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Improved access to help mitigate the impact of the South Sudan crisis

Wednesday, 30 July 2014 11:58 GMT

An elderly man and his grandchildren, listens attentively as Red Cross volunteers impart messages of cholera prevention in Gurei. Photo by Henry Makiwa/British Red Cross

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* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Reports of a cholera outbreak in war-torn South Sudan cast a dark shadow on an already dire crisis that has engulfed the East African country for the past seven months.

Latest figures released by the World Health Organization, point to a spike in new cholera infections with a total of 4,668 cases reported including 106 deaths.

Continued fighting, inadequate sanitation conditions and a lack of safe drinking water, are some of the factors that have contributed to the latest wave of cholera infections, putting thousands of people - already affected by violence - at further risk. Compounding the crisis is the lack of toilets in many parts of South Sudan; and the onset of the rainy season means that human waste is being washed into the rivers from which people have to obtain their drinking water.

Cholera is a severe infection caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which primarily affects the small intestine and is treatable if detected in time. It occurs in places with poor sanitation and is a fast-moving infection which causes diarrhoea in its victims, leading to severe dehydration and possible death. Experts say contaminated food or water, are the main agents of the spread of the disease.

During my recent visit to South Sudan, I learnt that cases of cholera infections were averaging 40 cases a day in the settlement of Torit some 130 miles south east of the capital, Juba. Encouragingly, the Red Cross teams there have responded by creating an emergency water treatment system that is providing up to 40,000 people with safe drinking water. Hundreds of committed volunteers are also going house-to-house, distributing oral rehydration salts, soap and demonstrating how to take care of basic hygiene and use water purification tablets.

In spite of the grim outlook and seemingly insurmountable challenges South Sudan faces, I came across some encouraging signs of resilience. In the township of Gurei a half-an-hour drive on the outskirts of Juba, residents have joined hands with the South Sudan Red Cross society, local authorities and other aid agencies, to beat back the spread of the cholera epidemic.

This co-ordinated and combined response has seen thousands of families in Gurei, holding regular meetings under the auspices of the South Sudan Red Cross (SSRC), to receive cholera prevention advice and discuss their general needs. As a result there were only two cholera patients in the 100-bed Gurei cholera treatment centre when we visited it.

Fenced off some distance away from the residential areas, the Gurei cholera treatment centre is a gated, quarantined zone that is highly sanitised and secured to prevent the spread of the disease.

“The SSRC volunteers have visited over 25,000 homes in this area teaching people the right health practices and providing water treatment tablets and soaps,” says Marial Mayom Riak, fundraising co-ordinator of the SSRC.

“Since the cholera outbreak was detected in May, we have only had one death out of 300 cases [in Gurei]. It’s helped a lot that we have partnered with local authorities and been included in the government taskforce to fight the epidemic.

“This means we can spread messages of cholera prevention on local radio stations and recruit more volunteers to raise awareness of the disease,” Marial explained.

Massive humanitarian needs remain elsewhere across South Sudan. Challenges the country cannot surmount by itself.

While conflict remains, people cannot move around in safety, access aid, take advantage of the rains and sow crops in what remains of the planting season, or receive decent healthcare.

The success of the humanitarian response to the South Sudan crisis will on one hand hinge on the commitment of the fighting parties to facilitating delivery of aid by securing safe access by air, road and water. On the other hand humanitarian actors on the ground require the support of the international community and the public in order to scale up assistance for the people of South Sudan.


To support the South Sudan Crisis appeal, please visit: www.redcross.org.uk/southsudan

For Postal donations -
British Red Cross
South Sudan Crisis Appeal
44 Moorfields
London
EC2Y 9AL

For Phone donations, call 0845 054 7208

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