South Sudan has some of the worst health indicators in the world. Maternal mortality rate is very high at 2054/100,000. Although about 46% of women attend at least one ANC visit, institutional deliveries account for less then 13% of all births. And contraceptive prevalence rate is very low at 4.7%, with huge unmet need. The outlook for children is equally gruesome with infant mortality rate (IMR) and under-five mortality rate (UMR) at 102 and 135 per 1000 live births, respectively.
This clearly demonstrated that women and children bear the brunt of the burden of sickness. As such, CARD endeavours to work alongside women and children to ensure that the have access to essential health information and life-saving services to realise improvement in the health.
CARD strives to provide primary health care services to displaced populations, and also to strengthen host communication by ensuring that their facilities are functional and are able to absorb increased load from the influx of IDPs. The following are some areas, which CARD a lot of interest in:
Primary health care provision:
The legacy of war is still evident in our health systems. The system is heavily donor dependant and run mostly by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs). This model is unsustainably expensive and cannot continue indefinitely. This is where CARD comes in. Being a national organization, CARD promises to provide services for South Sudanese by South Sudanese, thereby greatly cutting the unit cost for every contact with the health system, and providing value for money.
CARD strives to provide services for women and children through provision of the minimum package of primary health cares services as defined by the MoH through providing the following services:
- Child Health Services
- Integrated management of childhood illnesses (IMCI) including referral
- Routine Immunization and support to Campaigns
- Vitamin A supplementation
- Promotion of early initiation and exclusive breast feeding and adequate infant and young child nutrition.
- Promotion of hygiene at health facilities and in the household
- Reproductive Health
- FP/Birth spacing
- Focused antenatal care (FANC)
- PMTCT
- Safe and Hygienic Delivery
- C/BEmONC
- Postpartum care
- Treatment and control of sexually transmitted infections.
- Control of major communicable diseases
- FP/Birth spacing
- Focused antenatal care (FANC)
- PMTCT
- Safe and Hygienic Delivery
- C/BEmONC
- Postpartum care
- Treatment and control of sexually transmitted infections.
Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH):
The lack of safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene practices have left a large proportion of South Sudan’s population at persistent risk of preventable waterborne diseases. The recent violence and large-scale displacement of people to areas without sufficient access to clean water and proper sanitation has greatly increased their vulnerability. Poor sanitary conditions pose a major public health risk, including potential cholera outbreaks. CARD’s immediate priority is to provide safe drinking water and emergency latrines, and promote good hygiene in order to prevent outbreaks and the spread of water related disease.
In particular, CARD will:
Ensure improved access to clean water for displaced people by trucking in water whenever practicable, treating water and/or rehabilitating water boreholes/water pumps.
Support displaced populations and other vulnerable communities with emergency latrines and basic hygiene activities and.
Plan and prepare for the rainy season, including any acute diarrhoea outbreaks, by pre-positioning WASH relief items in Western Equatoria and Upper nile states.
Figure 1& 2 ; Demonstrating Handwashing during Hygiene promotion in Primary schools in Lainya and Yei River Counties Central Equatoria State..