South Sudan Readiness Scales Up in Face of DRC Ebola Outbreak

On 1st August 2018, the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared an outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in North Kivu and Ituri provinces. In September 2018, WHO assessed the risk of Ebola spreading beyond the borders of the DRC as very high. Among the nine countries neighbouring DRC, South Sudan was ranked as one of the four priority-1 countries due to its proximity to the epicentre of the outbreak and consequently considered as a high priority country for the implementation of operational readiness interventions. To assess the progress of Operational Preparedness and readiness (OPR) in South Sudan, WHO and partners conducted a first Joint Monitoring Mission (JMM) from 15th to 21th November 2018. A second mission took place from 3 to 8 March 2019, leaded by WHO HQ and AFRO along with experts from DFID, OCHA, UNICEF, USAID, and WFP.

Since the initial assessment visit, South Sudan has shown significant progress in scaling up its operational readiness. Comparing the initial EVD checklist data collected in November 2018 and the second JMM, the overall national EVD readiness score increased from 17% to 61%. This marked increase was seen across all EVD readiness pillars, including meeting standards and criteria for coordination (22.7% to 89%), public awareness (0 to 100%), and Points of Entry (14.3% to 86%).

Despite improvement to overall readiness, the second JMM identified readiness gaps and offered recommendations at both national and state levels. The main recommendations were to: review, prioritize and cost the EVD readiness plans for next 6 months; review the terms of reference of the national and state-level task forces and assign them a secretariat; improve cross-border collaboration; map out EVD-related logistics requirements; jointly re-assess all isolation units to ensure standards are followed and take corrective measures; strengthen information management systems and to organize full Simulation Exercises at the national and state levels.

WHO and partners are fully engaged to continue supporting South Sudan and other countries neighbouring DRC in building readiness capacity for EVD.