An advocacy group, the Center for Peace and Advocacy (CPA), has called on the national health minister to send health workers to Ayod County in Jongle State to investigate a suspected measles outbreak there.
According to a statement from CPA, measles disease is deadly and kills vulnerable children within a short time.
The group said Ayod County has poor health facilities due to the lack of a road network which makes it difficult for national and international NGOs and local and national governments to respond on time when such cases are happening.
“The right to health must be enjoyed without discrimination on the grounds of race, age, ethnicity or any other factor. Non-discrimination and equality require states to take steps to redress any discriminatory law, practice, or policy,” said CPA’s executive director, Ter Manyang Gatwech. “The WHO Constitution (1946) envisages ‘…the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right of every human being.’ Acknowledging health as a human right recognizes a legal obligation on states to ensure access to timely, acceptable, and affordable health care.”
He said Ayod has been negated from the national cake since 2005 by the central government and requested the Transitional Government of National Unity to build health centers in Ayod so that citizens will be proud of their government.
“Social services are mandatory, not an obligation for any functioning government in the world,” Manyang asserted. “In pursuing a rights-based approach, health policy, strategies, and programs should be designed explicitly to improve the enjoyment of all people to the right to health, with a focus on the furthest behind first.”
Ayod County Commissioner James Chuol Jiek Bol told Radio Tamazuj over the weekend that most of the suspected measles cases are being registered in isolated parts of the county which missed out on the immunization campaign in August.
He said that in the islands of Hat, Pakur, and Pakuem, there are about 1,072 measles cases including 30 deaths while 800 cases, including 25 deaths, were reported in the swampy area of Nyawit. There were also 485 cases registered in Goak Payam and 500 cases, including 9 deaths in Pagil.
The areas where vaccination took place include Ayod town, Kwachdeng, Mogoag, Wau, Khorwai, Pajiek, and Pagoang