Situation analysis
Description of the disaster
On 3 November 2015, 4 1⁄2 months after a cholera outbreak was declared on 23 June 2015, the Government of South Sudan, through its Ministry of Health, declared an end to the outbreak. At final tally, the emergency recorded 1,818 laboratory-confirmed cases and claimed 47 lives in Central Equatoria State and Jonglei State. Juba County in Central Equatoria was, by far, the most- affected, accounting for 89 per cent (1,622) of cases in 7 payams.
26 June:
SSRC begins mobilization of volunteers and NFI, 3 days after the cholera outbreak was declared.
The National Society submits a request for a DREF application.
Generally, the outbreak was characterized by predictable epidemiological patterns, peak in late July when case fatality rate reached 6.6%, before slowing down after a secondary peak in August 2015. The outbreak was triggered by heavy rain which normally started mid-year, the worst was over within the first 2 months, with 100 new cases recorded since 5 September, largely due to concerted intervention efforts from the government and international agencies.
The emergency response took place as an ongoing internal conflict entered its 20th month in August 2015, although the outbreak was largely confined to Juba, away from the fighting that continued to rage further North in the states of Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile.
3 July:
SSRC Juba branch conducts social mobilization refresher workshops for 50 volunteers.
The next day, household visits begin at Mauna and New Site.
Volunteers visit 192 households on their first day.
Epidemiological data throughout the outbreak shows children < 5yrs to be the most vulnerable: cumulative weeks saw the rate of transmission among this age group grew steadily from 14 % to 24 %. At the peak of the outbreak, case fatality Rate (CFR) for this group (< 5yrs ) was almost double that of the general population.
DREF Day 1 6 July:
The DREF application approved was 225,368 Swiss franc.
SSRC reached 800 households in 2 locations.