JUBA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The South Sudanese government has ramped up efforts to prevent the spread of cholera following the deaths of at least 60 people since the outbreak in late October, a government official said on Friday.
Minister of Information, Communication Technology and Postal Services Michael Makuei Lueth said that 60 deaths have been reported so far, along with 6,000 cases recorded nationwide.
Makuei told journalists in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, that efforts are underway to procure more vaccines after the first batch, sufficient to treat 150,000 people, was dispatched to northern Renk County in Upper Nile State.
The first cholera case was reported on Oct. 28 at the Renk transit center for refugees and returnees fleeing conflict in neighboring Sudan.
Makuei said that most of the cholera cases have been reported among refugees in Renk County, Rubkona County in Unity State, and Aweil town in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State, as well as recently in Juba.
Minister of Health Yolanda Awel Deng recently announced that an additional one million vaccine doses are needed to target vulnerable populations across the country.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), refugees, returnees and residents are the most affected by the outbreak, particularly children under the age of five and the elderly.
The WHO said that contributing factors include limited access to clean water, poor sanitation, open defecation, and overcrowding in transit centers and camps.
South Sudan requires 32 million U.S. dollars to sustain the first three months of the emergency response to the cholera outbreak, the WHO reported. The funds will be used to strengthen current operations, deploy response teams to newly identified hotspots, maintain essential health services, and procure and distribute additional emergency supplies. ■
