Health officials working for relief agency UNICEF report that cholera cases have been found in two areas outside Juba, in addition to the cases within the city.
On Sunday the Ministry of Health reported that a cumulative of 30 suspected cholera cases have been admitted in Juba Teaching Hospital and 13 cases tested positive so far.
Today the UN children’s agency puts the number higher, saying 36 suspected cholera cases have been reported at Juba Teaching Hospital as of yesterday, with two deaths.
“There have also been cholera cases in Duk Island in Bor, where 32 cases and six deaths have been reported, and in Terekeka, where four cases and three deaths have been reported,” the UN agency stated.
UNICEF’s Cholera Task Force has been sending water and sanitation supplies to seven major hubs in the country in preparation for a cholera outbreak, the organization said in a statement.
South Sudan witnessed cholera outbreaks in the last two rainy seasons.
“Solid and liquid waste management partners are on standby. In order to support case management in Juba Teaching Hospital, UNICEF has supplied a number of sanitation and hygiene items such as buckets, dustbins, wipers, gloves, and mops,” reads the statement.
In the hospital’s Cholera Treatment Centre, UNICEF has fixed or replaced taps in shower rooms, and is in process of fixing or replacing taps on water tanks and latrines.
The UN agency is also providing water and sanitation services to displaced people in Juba. Thousands more people fled their homes this past week.
But the effort faces challenges. “Disposal of solid waste [at UN House] continues to be a challenge as access to the disposal site is restricted,” UNICEF said.
File photo: Cholera treatment centre in South Sudan in 2014 (Medair/Wendy van Amerongen)