The health ministry in Western Bahr el Ghazal State has set up a task force to monitor, alert, and respond to cholera cases after an outbreak of the disease in several parts of the country which has claimed 199 lives as of 29 December 2024.
During an interview with Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday, the Director General at the State Ministry of Health, Dr. James Ambrose Ucini, said, that even though no case has been reported in the state, his ministry and health partners have set up a taskforce.
“As I speak to you, Western Bahr el Ghazal has reported zero cases of cholera but we are putting so many aspects and a strategic response in place to deal with the outbreak in general,” he said. “As a precaution, as I speak, we have got a taskforce committee made of technocrats led by the director general of health alongside World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNMISS, IOM and the WFP and subcommittees.”
According to Dr. Ucini, the task force is mandated to carry out public sanitization about the risk of the disease. He added that an Infectious Disease Unit (ID) has been established at Wau Teaching Hospital.
“We have also set up points for testing all travelers and those entering the state and the only challenge is lack of sufficient funds for fuel and to support the staff,” he stated.
The health official urged the government’s health partners to select one organization to take the lead in dealing with the cholera response and appealed to them to attend the daily health meetings at the state health ministry.
“My message to our health partners is to let them attend the cholera outbreak response meetings every Monday at 9 a.m. at the state ministry of health,” Dr. Ucini urged.