By Philip Buda Ladu<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The fight against malaria has achieved significant success in Twic County, Warrap State through a combination of mass drug administration (MDA) and vaccination.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Malaria remains a major public health threat in South Sudan, affecting mostly vulnerable children.<\/p>\n Factors such as poverty, displacement, and a fragile health system exacerbate the problem.<\/p>\n In an effort to address this, M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res\/Doctors without Borders (MSF) has implemented seven rounds of MDA between May 2023 and October 2024, targeting children aged 3 months to 15 years.<\/p>\n The intervention, which included administering preventive drugs and supporting the Ministry of Health in rolling out the R21 malaria vaccine, has led to a substantial reduction in cases and severe illnesses.<\/p>\n As a result of these efforts, a record of significant decrease in malaria positivity rates in integrated case management community sites. The positivity rate dropped from 79% in 2022 to 70% in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the MDA started, I took my five children and got the drugs to prevent malaria. None of them got sick,\u201d says Adior Manut, a resident of Turalei internally displaced people\u2019s camp in Mayen Abun.<\/p>\n According to MSF, its teams administered preventive malaria drugs to over 18,700 children aged three months to 15 years during the seven rounds of MDA campaigns.<\/p>\n Additionally, the medical charity supported the Ministry of Health in vaccinating children aged five to 24 months against malaria.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we compare before and after MSF started bringing malaria drugs, there is a big difference,\u201d says Arual Manyok, another resident of Mayen Abun. \u201cAll the children who received the drugs have never had malaria again.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Mohamed Bashir, MSF\u2019s project medical reference in Twic County, emphasized the importance of proactive prevention interventions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe decrease in malaria cases and severe admissions in 2024 clearly shows that malaria preventive measures like MDA prevention rounds or the malaria vaccine response by the MoH can effectively provide protection and interrupt the disease cycle in our target pediatric population.\u201d<\/p>\n MSF emphasized the importance of community involvement in the success of these interventions. By working closely with local leaders and volunteers, MSF was able to raise awareness and ensure that the most vulnerable children received the necessary preventive measures.<\/p>\n Despite these achievements, MSF warns that lack of preparedness remains a significant challenge in many parts of South Sudan. Recurrent malaria outbreaks continue to strain health facilities and lead to an increase in severe cases.<\/p>\n \u201cHealth organizations should invest in more robust prevention and emergency response,\u201d Dr. Bashir urged. \u201cThe success we\u2019ve seen in Mayen Abun shows that malaria is preventable with the right tools.\u201d<\/p>\n MSF calls on health organizations to invest in robust malaria prevention and emergency response strategies to address the ongoing threat of the disease in South Sudan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Philip Buda Ladu The fight against malaria has achieved significant success in Twic County, Warrap State through a combination of mass drug administration (MDA) and vaccination. Malaria remains a major public health threat in South Sudan, affecting mostly vulnerable children. Factors such as poverty, displacement, and a fragile[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":31014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31013","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\/2024\/11\/Medical-staff-give-a-malaria-vaccination-to-Yar-Mayak-3-months-as-she-is-held-by-her-mother-Ajok-Mayak-22-in-Twic.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31013","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31015,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31013\/revisions\/31015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}