Since the start of the pandemic, South Sudan noticed an increase in reported mysterious deaths in communities going largely uninvestigated due to safety concerns during burials. In response to these reports, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with WHO and partners set up a COVID-19 mortality surveillance team to better collect information on COVID-19 death alerts. The Ministry of Health in collaboration with WHO and the South Sudan Red Cross trained 19 national and state-level Ministry of Health public health officers on reporting of deaths due to COVID-19. These professionals will lead the charge to ensure all new deaths due to COVID- 19 are integrated into the master database in the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC). “Understanding the number of lives lost to COVID-19 will help us to know the scale and progress of the outbreak and make an informed decision both individually and collectively”, said Dr Richard Laku, the Incident Manager for the COVID-19 Response at the Ministry of Health. The initial phase of the COVID-19 mortality surveillance is starting in Juba (where the highest number of cases have been reported) and then will be applied in other locations outside Juba.
In line with the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), WHO is supporting the Ministry of Health to strengthen existing capacities to mitigate the risk of spread and improving capacities for surveillance. This includes contact tracin;, rapid response teams; laboratory investigation; case management while ensuring appropriate community engagement and awareness on COVID-19 prevention; and access to the requisite medicines and logistics for optimal outbreak response. The WHO South Sudan COVID-19 response is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), United Kingdom, the European Union, the European Union Humanitarian Aid, the Government of Germany, the People's Republic of China and the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).