South Sudan
We work with partners across South Sudan’s health system to respond to challenges so that women, children, and families can access safe and equitable health care.
MOMENTUM is partnering with nearly 40 countries to accelerate progress and advance USAID’s work to save lives and improve health outcomes for women, children, families, and communities in all of their diversity. MOMENTUM brings together specialized technical and country expertise through six distinct yet integrated awards with the depth and breadth of experience to spur reductions in maternal, newborn, and child mortality and morbidity.
In South Sudan, two MOMENTUM projects—Integrated Health Resilience and Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity—work with the Ministry of Health, local partners, and community leaders to improve the health of mothers and children, strengthen the resilience of the country’s health system, and vaccinate more people against COVID-19.
Building Health Resilience
Challenges since independence have resulted in significant, ongoing shocks and stresses to South Sudan’s health system. MOMENTUM works with the Government of South Sudan and local organizations to increase the health resilience of individuals, households, communities, and the health system to better prepare for, mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses with minimal disruptions to high-quality health care. We use GOAL’s Analysis of the Resilience of Communities to Disasters (ARC-D) tool to assess health resilience and tailor approaches that address the specific issues that affect South Sudan’s health system.
Vaccinating South Sudan Against COVID-19
MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity is working with the Ministry of Health and local partners to vaccinate more South Sudanese people against COVID-19. We have supported the National COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign with planning, management, and supervision.
To increase vaccine uptake, we are training health workers and supporting them to provide COVID-19 vaccines and conducting dialogue and advocacy meetings with community members and opinion leaders. MOMENTUM has supported the Ministry of Health in facilitating radio talk shows that share COVID-19 messages and dispel misinformation. MOMENTUM also supports the Ministry of Health with supply chain logistics to ensure adequate vaccine inventory.
MOMENTUM is also working to integrate COVID-19 vaccination into primary health services at private and public facilities, and improving data collection around vaccination to support evidence-based decision-making.
Learn how we worked with South Sudan’s government and local partners to vaccinate people against COVID-19.
Reducing the Impact of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed significant additional stress on South Sudan’s health system. MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience works with local partners to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and to adapt programs and approaches so that basic health services continue to reach women and children. To help South Sudan respond to COVID-19 and prepare for future outbreaks, we help train health workers on the use of personal protective equipment, infection prevention and control measures, case monitoring, and additional preventative measures, such as social distancing. We also help develop messages that partners can use to promote healthy behaviors and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in communities.
Tackling Gender Inequality to Improve Women’s Health and Eliminate Gender-Based Violence
South Sudanese women and girls face considerable barriers to accessing and using health services, including early marriage and childbearing, and limited freedom to make their own health decisions. We work with our partners to implement USAID’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy to tackle some of the root causes of gender inequality so that South Sudanese women and girls can better access voluntary family planning and reproductive health care.
The gender-related barriers that women and girls face contribute to high rates of gender-based violence in South Sudan; one out of two South Sudanese women has experienced intimate partner violence in her lifetime.3 In addition to our work on gender inequality, we also collaborate with communities to transform harmful social norms that contribute to gender-based violence.
Check out our assessment of social norms that affect family planning and reproductive health in South Sudan.
Expanding Access to Voluntary Family Planning
In South Sudan, the use of family planning is low—only four percent of women use a modern method of contraception2—in part because women lack access to quality health services and products. MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience works to expand access to family planning in South Sudan by integrating family planning services into maternal and child health care. We collaborate with community health workers to teach women how to use the injectable contraceptive DMPA-SC (subcutaneous depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, brand name Sayana Press) on their own so they can use it at home, minimizing the need to travel to health facilities.
On our blog, learn why a married couple in Magwi, South Sudan, decided to use family planning after having their eighth child.
Keeping Mothers and Children Healthy
South Sudan has high newborn and child death rates; over 31,000 children under the age of five died in 2021, almost 40 percent of them less than a month old.3 Together with local partners, MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience promotes respectful, client- and family-centered care for mothers and children to address these deaths and the illnesses that cause them, such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria.
To help mothers and babies stay healthy during and immediately after childbirth, we work with community health programs to distribute misoprostol, a drug that can prevent and treat postpartum hemorrhage, and chlorhexidine, an antiseptic used to clean umbilical cords. We also partner with community health workers to help them be aware of the signs that a mother or child’s health is at risk so they can administer services or refer them for emergency care.
Dive into the story of Ayuen Garang Kuol, a young mother in Tibek, South Sudan, who gave birth to a healthy baby boy with the help of a MOMENTUM-trained health worker.
Our Achievements in South Sudan
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959 health workers trained on COVID-19 vaccination
From March 2022 to September 2023, MOMENTUM trained 959 health workers on COVID-19 vaccination. MOMENTUM also supported 51 radio talk shows to disseminate messages about COVID-19 vaccination, which reached approximately 344,455 people.
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58,066 family planning visits supported
From October 2021 to September 2022, MOMENTUM supported 58,066 visits for family planning services in South Sudan.
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10,922 infants vaccinated against measles
From October 2021 to September 2022, MOMENTUM helped give 10,922 infants the first dose of the measles vaccine.
MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience: South Sudan Ministry of Health; Child Relief and Support Organization (CRSO); DevCom Consult, Ltd.; Health Pooled Fund (HPF); Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM); Reproductive Health Association of South Sudan (RHASS); The Rescue Initiative–South Sudan (TRI-SS); South Sudan Nurses and Midwives Association (SSNAMA); United Nations Family Planning Fund; United Nations Children’s Fund; and USAID partners (Breakthrough ACTION, Global Health Supply Chain Program—Procurement and Supply Management Project, Monitoring and Evaluation Support Project)
MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity: South Sudan Ministry of Health, Core Group
References
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Gender-Based Violence [South Sudan Country Office]. December 2019. https://www.unicef.org/southsudan/media/2071/file/UNICEF-South-Sudan-GBV-Briefing-Note-Aug-2019.pdf.
- Family Planning 2030. South Sudan 2022 Indicator Summary. 2022. http://track20.org/download/pdf/2022%20Country%20Briefs/English/South%20Sudan%202022%20Indicator%20Summary%20Sheet.pdf.
- UNICEF. “Data Warehouse Cross-Sector Indicators: South Sudan.” 2021. https://data.unicef.org/country/ssd
Last updated December 2023.