South Sudan declares end of Cholera Outbreak: Report

Juba, Nov 10: South Sudan has declared itself to be free of cholera which had been spreading in the new-born state since last June, the media reported on Tuesday. “There is no cholera in South Sudan anymore. The disease has completely been controlled,” Xinhua quoted a Sudan health ministry official as saying.

“The measures adopted by the health ministry and non-governmental organisations have led to stopping the spread of the disease and completely ending it,” he added. The South Sudanese government announced cholera outbreak in the country last June, after which the health ministry declared maximum state of alert through targeting water distribution points and establishing cholera treatment centres at affected communities.

In 2014, cholera killed 176 people out of 6,400 registered cases before the disease was contained following intervention of the World Health Organisation and other aid agencies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and Medicines Sans Frontiers. South Sudan was plunged into violence in December 2013 when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and defectors led by his former deputy Riek Machar.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out war, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension. The clashes have killed thousands of South Sudanese and forced around 1.9 million to flee their homes.

According to UN statistics, two-thirds of South Sudan’s 12 million people are in dire need of aid, and 4.5 million face severe food shortages. (IANS)