A major public health initiative in South Sudan’s Warrap State has successfully delivered preventive malaria treatment to 24,498 children aged between 3 and 59 months during the opening phase of a seasonal chemoprevention campaign in Twic County.
Executed between June 23 and 29 by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in partnership with local county health authorities, the intervention expanded into three new deployment sites this year to reach vulnerable populations across 12 localities, including Majook Noon, Abin Dau, Aweng, Gomgoi, Wunrok, Wunrieng, and Panyok.
Alongside prophylactic medication, healthcare workers conducted systematic malnutrition screenings for 23,215 young children, successfully identifying and referring over 500 cases of moderate or severe acute malnutrition to specialized medical centers for urgent nutritional therapy. Integrating nutrition checks into the malaria response provides a crucial safety net for young children, as malnourished infants face a significantly higher risk of severe medical complications or death when infected by vector-borne diseases.
Malaria remains the single greatest health threat in South Sudan, responsible for approximately half of all recorded deaths nationwide according to World Health Organization estimates. Ministry of Health surveillance underscores the persistent burden, recording 3.6 million infections in 2022 and rising to 3.8 million cases annually in both 2023 and 2024. Because transmission surges dramatically during the rainy season running from July to November, humanitarian teams plan to execute consecutive rounds of seasonal chemoprophylaxis over the coming months to maintain protective immunity among children under five during peak transmission.
TE/Sf/fss/abj/APA