Juba, 5 June 2015: WHO has begun a series of Oral Cholera Vaccination (OCV) Campaigns in parts of South Sudan in concerted efforts to prevent a potential outbreak of the disease.

The campaigns, targeted for Bentiu and Juba 3 Protection of Civilians (PoC) sites in June 2015, aim to prevent more cases and will complement other measures already in place. This is crucial given the approach of the rainy season in the endemic country.

“The threat of a cholera outbreak in the PoCs and other high risk areas is imminent hence it is imperative to implement effective cholera prevention interventions. While numerous preventive measures have been put in place, they may not be adequate to avert a potential cholera outbreak in the PoCs which is why health partners decided to use OCV as supplementary preventive strategy,” says Dr. Allan Mpairwe, Head of Outbreaks and Disaster Management (ODM) at WHO South Sudan.

The campaign in Bentiu began on 1 June and is expected to reach 73,360 people with two doses of the oral cholera vaccine (OCV) over a four day period. This will be followed by the campaign in Juba, which is scheduled to start on 15 June and aims to reach 33,565 people over four days.  A total of 146,720 doses have been released for Bentiu, while another 67,129 have been set aside for Juba 3 PoC. 

The rationale behind the campaigns is derived from the outcome of OCV coverage surveys conducted by WHO, in collaboration with health partners in Malakal, Bentiu and Juba 3 PoCs, to ascertain the number of displaced people living in these camps who had received two doses of oral cholera vaccine last year. The surveys showed that less than 20% of current residents of Juba, Malakal and Bentiu reported receiving two doses of oral cholera vaccine in 2014. Since residents in these camps are highly mobile, these findings suggest that most of those currently residing in these PoCs are new arrivals, while most of those vaccinated last year may have left the camps.

Cholera is endemic in South Sudan and historically, outbreaks have occurred along major rivers in the dry season as well as during the rainy season. South Sudan has suffered at least five major cholera outbreaks in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2014.  The outbreak in 2014, occurred within the context of an ongoing humanitarian crisis resulting in a total of 6,421 cases including 167 deaths (CFR2.6%) being  reported from 16 counties in the five states of Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Western Equatoria, Upper Nile and Jonglei.

Risk factors for the spread of cholera still remain, placing the country at high-risk of another cholera epidemic. These include increased population movement due to insecurity, crowded living conditions in the camps with inadequate basic services, low sanitation coverage, poor hygiene practices, malnutrition, food insecurity and expected flooding among others.

WHO, in collaboration with health authorities and health cluster partners, initiated cholera preparedness activities in March 2015, resulting in the activation of cholera task forces at national and state level, in the in the PoCs and at other major urban centers.   The state and national cholera task forces, comprised of representatives of health authorities, health and WASH partners as well as community members, have been coordinating cholera preparedness and response activities.

Preparedness  measures put in place so far include refresher training on case management and infection control, enhanced disease surveillance, improving sanitation and hygiene practices in high risk areas, social mobilization and prepositioning cholera supplies in strategic places. It is anticipated that the OCV campaigns will complement these measures, thereby averting a potentially large scale cholera outbreak in the country. Partners working with WHO to implement the campaign the campaign include UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) the International Medical Corps (IMC). WHO provided the vaccines and is giving technical support.

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For more information, please contact:

Matilda Moyo, WHO Communications Consultant
Mobile: +211955036439
Email: whossinfo [at] gmail.com (whossinfo[at]gmail[dot]com)