On 28 October, the South Sudanese Ministry of Health (MoH) declared a cholera outbreak in Renk (Upper Nile State) – the main point of entry of refugees and returnees from war-torn Sudan to South Sudan. There are also suspected and confirmed cholera cases in various locations like Malakal and Gorom refugee camp (near Juba)
Inadequate water and sanitation (WASH) conditions, overcrowding and current displacement trends from Sudan and within South Sudan or current ongoing floods in different parts of the country, lead us to fear of a rampant increase in the number of cholera cases in Renk and in other areas where the disease is spreading.
MSF is focusing on treating cholera patients, IPC measures and WASH support in the Renk Civil Hospital where we initially deployed a 10-bed set-up in the CTU and now doubled the bed capacity to 20 bed, with potential to scale up to 40 beds if needed. We are scaling up cholera awareness, active case finding, among other. In Malakal, we have opened a 20-bed CTU treating the suspected cholera patients in Malakal Town Hospital for paediatrics, as well as a CTC with a potential capacity of up to 100 beds based on needs. To date there have been 65 cholera patients treated in Malakal. Teams have started community engagement activities for contact tracing as well as to raise awareness in both locations.
The pace of the response does not match the urgency of the outbreak, and we are calling for an imminent strong coordinated response to prevent the spread of the disease.