Current Situation
According to WHO, as of 26 July 2015, a total of 1,375 cholera cases including 42 deaths have been reported in Juba County and in Bor, Jonglei State for an overall case fatality rate (CFR) of 3.0 per cent. This includes:
- In Juba County, 1,264 cases including 41 deaths (CFR 3.24 per cent) reported from seven payams.
- In Bor, 111 cases including one death (CFR 0.9 per cent) reported from Malou in Makuach payam and the rest from other areas around Bor.
Case fatality rates have decreased from ten per cent at the initial declaration of outbreak to three per cent as of 26 July, however, this remains well above the emergency threshold of one per cent. Continued behaviour change communication efforts are required to ensure immediate health-seeking behaviour.
Sustained community transmission continues in Juba, while community transmission is believed to be declining in Bor. Seventeen new cases were registered on 26 July, all of which were in Juba County.
Cholera remains particularly deadly for young children. In Bor, 79 per cent of cases are under 20 years old, with 58 per cent of cases being children under 5. In Juba, while only 14 per cent of cases are children under 5, 40 per cent cases are children and young people under 20. Twenty-one per cent of deaths have been children under 5.
So far all alerts outside of Juba and Bor have tested negative, though preventative activities continue in high risk areas, especially areas along the Nile and in crowded Protection of Civilian (PoC) sites such as Bentiu PoC