South Sudan has increased border surveillance to prevent any possibility of influx of Ebola into the country, the Ministry of Health has said.

The vigilance comes following the outbreak of Ebola Virus Diseases (EVD) in Congo and Guinea. The ministry says in a February 2021 EVD plan that the country has an overall readiness of 66 per cent to combat the possible influx of the disease. Some of the preparedness plans include vaccination, case management, and contact tracing, manning ports of entry, coordination and running laboratory tests.

The ministry is using the past experiences of 2018 and 2019 to map out the states likely to be the weak links for importing the disease.

The plan states: ‘‘During the 2018 and 2019 EVD outbreak South Sudan was among a high risk countries for importation of case based volume of cross-border movement and proximity to the DRC and Uganda.’’

‘‘South Sudanese constitute the highest proportion people crossing South Sudan and followed by other citizens (Congolese, Ugandan, Kenyan, Ethiopian, Eritrean etc ).  The reason for returning includes family visit especially from Uganda and Kenya, access to basic health services, access to livelihood including farming, and relative peace and security in South Sudan,’’ it further adds.

Areas at risk

In this regard, the ministry has earmarked five states for intensified surveillance due to the fact that they are bordering Uganda and Congo-which can easily provide routes for the disease.

The areas include: Gbudwe (Western Equtoria), Torite (Eastern Equatoria), Maridi (Western Equatoria), Tambura (Western Equatoria), and Yei River (Central Equatoria), as well as Jubek and Wau.

The other areas at risk due to the frequent travels DRC to South Sudan include Tambura, Yambio, Ezo, Nzara, Ibba, Maridi, Yei, Lainya, Morbo. From Uganda to Juba: Kajo-keji, Magwi, Torit, Ikotos, Lafon, Budi and Kapoeta South.

According to the ministry, the country already activated emergency responses against Ebola outbreak in the past. And the foundations put in place by then helped in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This only implies that should the disease knock, the country would utilise same team, approach and infrastructure to survive the storm.

‘‘COVID-19 pandemic response used the existing EVD incident management system at national and state level. Hence, the same structure will be used during the possible EVD outbreak.  Health workers, surveillance officers and state coordinators were trained on EVD,’’ the ministry states in the plan.

 ‘‘They can be easily refreshed and used during the outbreak. EVD SoPs and guidelines developed and stored in the Google shared drive for public use.’’

The ministry has however warned that the country currently battles COVID-19 and that would only mean more engagement for the already strained facilities.

For example, the ministry said there is no approved budget and resource mobilisation formula in place. The hotlines are already engaged and there is lacking testing capacity in the far-flung facilities.

Up to February 7, three cases and two deaths from the Ebola had been recorded in Butemba, Congo, after the 12^th outbreak emerged.

The ministry said the Congolese health official had traced 149 people and vaccinated 43 of them.

It is the same place that the haemorrhagic fever broke out in June 2020 killing 2,299 and infecting 3,481 people. Also, Guinea’s ministry of health discovered seven cases on February 14, where three of the victims died.