By Malek Arol<\/p>\n
Influx of refugees and returnees into South Sudan has levied heavy burdens and overstretched financial allocations for humanitarian assistance in the country.<\/p>\n
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Albino Akol Atak lamented the funding shortage during review planning meeting on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are facing a lot of challenges with funding because the number arriving daily is overwhelming\u201d the minister cried out to humanitarian agencies during the meeting.<\/p>\n
Akol said the ministry has already used $ 2.3 million dollars on returnees and refugees, out of the 5.3 million dollars approved by the government, yet the influx continues to increase.<\/p>\n
He said the ministry in partnership with International Organization for Migration (IOM) transports returnees to their final destinations by plane and river transports.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have already transported 75,000 returnees to their various places,\u201d Akol said.<\/p>\n
He said over 200,000 people have fled the war in Sudan into South Sudan with the majority coming back as returnees into their country.<\/p>\n
The minister eluded that over congestion of the people who have fled Sudan conflict, poses health threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe congestion from the entry sites may cause health problems and this happens because the number of returnees arriving is more than those being transported,\u201d said Hon. Atak.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Peter Van der Auweraert, IOM\u2019s Chief of Mission, said the donors are also facing a challenge in the transportation of people by planes and boats.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will ensure that we have enough funds in the next couple of months to make the transportation more effective\u201d, Mr. Peter assured.<\/p>\n
According to IOM, the people who arrive in South Sudan are more vulnerable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are more likely to be malnourished, sick, and are more likely to need more assistance than before\u201d.<\/p>\n
Director General in the Ministry of Health, Dr. John Rumunu, said children have been reported to show signs and symptoms related to measles, Ebola, Marburg and other hemorrhagic fevers.<\/p>\n
He said, however, samples collected have ruled out Ebola and Marburg.<\/p>\n
Dr. Rumunu said a few cases of measles were present but have also been controlled through a vaccination campaign rolled out for the children.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Malek Arol Influx of refugees and returnees into South Sudan has levied heavy burdens and overstretched financial allocations for humanitarian assistance in the country. The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Albino Akol Atak lamented the funding shortage during review planning meeting on Wednesday. \u201cWe are facing a[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Fugees.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16044"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16047,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16044\/revisions\/16047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}