On December 21, 2023, South Sudan’s Ministry of Health declared a yellow fever outbreak in Western Equatoria State.
Yellow fever is a mosquito-borne acute viral hemorrhagic disease and has an incubation period of 3-6 days following infection. Mild symptoms include fever, nausea, vomiting, headache, abdominal and muscle pains, while more severe symptoms include hepatitis and hemorrhagic fever, with a risk of death.
South Sudan lies in the yellow fever belt and has reported 187 cases – including 27 deaths – in three separate outbreaks in 2003, 2018, and 2020. The last outbreak reported in the country occurred in 2022 when two cases were reported. In the absence of preventive massive vaccination campaigns, the risk of outbreaks remains high in the country.
The situation has been exacerbated by another outbreak of of measles – a respiratory tract viral infection commonly found in children. Since February, close to 200 cases have been recorded in Yambio and Nzara country, with three deaths of children under five years of age. Measles has evolved into a persistent emergency in South Sudan, and recurring outbreaks are a clear indication of low vaccination coverage across the country. Since the start of the year, over 12000 cases of measles have been reported across the country. Of these, more than 400 were only during the last week.

MSF has started an emergency response for measles, supporting three health facilities including Gangura PHCC, Sakure PHCC and Yambio Hospital for treatment of measles patients. The teams are also running a community programme to detect cases and refer them to the health facilities. The case management alone is not sufficient though; therefore, MSF is highlighting the situation and urging the health authorities and organizations such as WHO to immediately initiate a reactive vaccination campaign.