Ebola! South Sudan wants $12m

South Sudan’s Ministry of Health has launched an appeal for 12 million US dollars to help in its Ebola preparedness plan, following news of confirmed Ebola cases in neighbouring Uganda.

“Ebola doesn’t know borders,” said Minister of Health, Riek Gai Kok, to journalists in the presence of various donors, the diplomatic community and other humanitarian organisations.

They’ve all been involved in the preparedness plan which was initiated in August 2018 after Ebola was reported in neigbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The three confirmed cases in Uganda were of victims who had entered the East African country from the DRC through the Kasese border – a 10-hour bus ride from South Sudan’s border.

“The country is at very high risk,” Kok added to his earlier while launching the national preparedness plan that the country had “to prevent even one single case.”

He also used the opportunity to reassure the South Sudan public.

“There’s no outbreak, no case of Ebola in South Sudan [now]. The country is safe. There’s no need to panic. We’re on top of things,” he continued with the proviso that this confidence would not have been possible without the donor funding the country has received so far to help in various preventative and surveillance efforts.

Between August 2018 and May 2019 when the country initiated its first preparedness plan, 16 million dollars had been sought, of which 13 million has been received.

“We did not have the capacity [before], but we are confident we can face the challenge.”

In a presentation at the launch of the prevention plan held at the country’s Public Health Emergency Operation Centre, the country’s Incident Manager at the Ministry of Health, Dr Richard Lako, said the new 12-million-dollar six-month plan would seek to take urgent steps to make sure the country can respond if Ebola crosses into its borders.

“We are urgently appealing to donors to keep South Sudan Ebola-free. Investing in prevention is the smartest thing to do,” Lako said, adding that the improvement of the existing surveillance, scaling up of training and expanding community mobilization, and a 72-hour response time among other things were important.

Announcing various measures that have been put in place, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in the country said there were 25-30 points of entry, including the Juba International Airport, where a number of isolation and holding units have been installed in the event of any reported cases.

“There is need for us to have that concerted effort to sustain what we’ve achieved. It’s important for us to keep the momentum up,” Dr Olushayo Oluseun of WHO said.