Health in South Sudan
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South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...
has huge challenges in delivering health care to the population. The challenges include: crippled health infrastructures, nearly collapsed
public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...
system, and inadequate qualified
health professional A health professional, healthcare professional, or healthcare worker (sometimes abbreviated HCW) is a provider of health care treatment and advice based on formal training and experience. The field includes those who work as a nurse, physician (suc ...
s. The country is far from achieving the
MDGs The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millenniu ...
by end of 2015. The health system needs a major resuscitation, in addition to supporting and developing health training institutions. South Sudan is acknowledged to have some of the worst health indicators in the world.Ross, Emma (28 January 2004).
Southern Sudan has unique combination of worst diseases in the world
''
Sudan Tribune The ''Sudan Tribune'' is an electronic news portal on Sudan and South Sudan and neighbouring countries including news coverage, analyses and commentary, official reports and press releases from various organizations, and maps. It is based in P ...
''.
A new measure of expected
human capital Human capital is a concept used by social scientists to designate personal attributes considered useful in the production process. It encompasses employee knowledge, skills, know-how, good health, and education. Human capital has a substantial ...
calculated for 195 countries from 1990 to 2016 and defined for each birth cohort as the expected years lived from age 20 to 64 years and adjusted for educational attainment, learning or education quality, and functional health status was published by ''
The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...
'' in September 2018. South Sudan had the second lowest level of expected human capital countries with 2 health, education, and learning-adjusted expected years lived between age 20 and 64 years. This was an improvement over 1990 when its score was 1.


Health system

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...
has a health system structured with three tiers: Primary Health Care Units (PHCU), Primary Health Care Centers (PHCC) and Hospitals (which exist as either state, county, police or military). The structures in health services delivery is in the order of community, primary, secondary and tertiary levels. The community is located at the village level and manned by community health. The primary level includes Primary Health Care Units and Primary Health Care Centers which provide Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS). The BPHS covers preventive, curative, health promotion and managerial activities. The BPHS is financed by the government and contributions from MDTF and various NGO. The health services are meant to be free and accessible to the majority of the population at the primary and secondary levels. The national ministry of health (MoH) have a decentralized health services in line with the interim constitution of South Sudan (2005) and local government act (2009). The decentralized organization structure has four levels: Central, state, county and the community. The national ministry of health provides policy guidance, leadership, funding, monitoring and evaluation. The state level oversees the implementation of
health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...
services delivery at the rest of the levels.


Health indicators

The health situation South Sudan is far from ideal. More than 50% of the population live below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, and the adult
literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
is at 27%. The under-five
infant mortality Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...
rate is 135.3 per 1,000 ( under five mortality rate (U5MR) 99/1000 live births), whilst maternal mortality is the highest in the world at 2,053.90 per 100,000 live births (
Maternal Mortality Ratio The maternal mortality ratio is a key performance indicator (KPI) for efforts to improve the health and safety of mothers before, during, and after childbirth per country worldwide. Often referred to as MMR, it is the annual number of female death ...
(MMR) at 2045/100,000 live births in 2006 (South Sudan national bureau of statistics, 2012)).
Antenatal care Prenatal care, also known as antenatal care, is a type of preventive healthcare. It is provided in the form of medical checkups, consisting of recommendations on managing a healthy lifestyle and the provision of medical information such as materna ...
(ANC) attendance (1st visit) was 47.6%, 17% for four visits. and the
infant mortality rate Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...
(IMR) was at 64/1,000 live births. The
life expectancy Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...
is 55 years. In 2004, there were only three surgeons serving southern Sudan, with three proper hospitals, and in some areas there was just one doctor for every 500,000 people. A child born in South Sudan has a 25% chance of dying before their 5th birthday. The major causes of the mortality include
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
, diarrhea,
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
, and
malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...
. The country has the lowest
immunization Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an infectious agent (known as the immunogen). When this system is exposed to molecules that are foreign to the body, called ''non-sel ...
coverage of only 26%. The proportion of children who received all recommended vaccinations dropped from 27 to 26% in 2006 and 2010 respectively. The ANC coverage is very low at 40.3% women attending first visit and 17% women who completed the four recommended visit. Most of the maternal deaths occur during labor, delivery and the immediate postpartum period. Most of these deaths would have been prevented if the country had good
infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
and skilled personnel during
child birth Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births globally ...
. The human resource for health in South Sudan is far below the minimum threshold recommended by the WHO. Between 2009–2010 there were only 189 doctors across eight states with one doctor for every 65,574 people. There were 309
midwives A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; con ...
in the country and the ratio was 1 per 39,088 population. However, there is variation in the figures; other sources suggested the ratio of midwives as 1:125,000 women.


Food insecurity

In October 2014
Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...
warned that 2.2 million people were facing
starvation Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, dea ...
. The
2017 South Sudan famine In the early months of 2017, parts of South Sudan experienced a famine following several years of instability in the country's food supply caused by war and drought. The famine, largely focused in the northern part of the country, affected an est ...
occurred after several years of food insecurity and affected an estimated five million people, just under half the national population.


See also

* List of hospitals in South Sudan


References

{{Africa topic, Health in