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South Sudan

© Matthias Steinbach
Fieldset

South Sudan is the world’s youngest country, gaining its independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long civil war.

However, violence erupted again in 2012, when a power struggle between the president and his deputy gave rise to the South Sudanese Civil War. Millions of people have been forced to flee their homes and livelihoods.

South Sudan is located in Central East Africa and has a largely tropical climate, although areas in the north of the country tend to be drier and hotter. Malaria and kala azar are both endemic.

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) first worked in South Sudan in 1983. Our work has responded to conflicts, neglected diseases and gaps in healthcare.

MSF landcruisers ready to depart towards Pieri
Bethany Sampson - MSF doctor
Bethany Sampson
Doctor
Bullets wounds, bumpy roads and bats in the bed
UK doctor Bethany Sampson is on the road to Pieri in South Sudan, where the medical team are preparing for mass casualty events
06 Jul 2021 / 5 minute read
Alyssia
Alyssia Ferrarese
Doctor
South Sudan: “A chain of women surrounded us, spreading their clothes wide to keep us out of sight”
MSF medical advisor Alyssia Ferrarese has just spent two months in Boma county, South Sudan, as part of a small team assessing people’s health needs and running mobile clinics in remote villages. Living conditions were tough and the work was challenging, but these were more than made up for by moments of deep connection with the local community, say Alyssia. 
11 Jun 2021 / 6 minute read
Dr Joy Clarke
Joy Clarke
Doctor
South Sudan: Plumpy'Nut and Messy Smiles!
In South Sudan, a dedicated team of parents and medical professionals are working together to bring malnourished children back to health...
21 May 2021 / 3 minute read
Gatluak Sufarn in Bentiu
Gatluak Sufarn
Gatluak Sufarn
Field Administration
Not giving up: How I survived war and displacement
Gatluak Sufarn works for Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Bentiu, a displaced persons camp in South Sudan. He shares his story…
26 Apr 2021 / 6 minute read
A painting in Aweil’s market created to promote giving blood donations during malaria season
Madeleine Finney-Brown - MSF doctor
Madeleine Finney-Brown
Paediatrician
The hymn: A young life in the balance in the ICU
The odds are against a critically ill seven-year-old boy and the MSF team fighting to save him. From Aweil, South Sudan, paediatrician Madeleine shares the deeply emotional moments she hopes never to forget.
16 Feb 2021 / 7 minute read
MSF finance manager Jonathan Pernet in Agok, South Sudan
Jonathan Pernet, MSF finance manager
Jonathan Pernet
Field Administration
South Sudan: For a handful of dollars
New staff member Jonathan joins the team in Agok, South Sudan for the first time, and learns a useful lesson…
16 Feb 2021 / 10 minute read
An MSF car drives past cows in South Sudan
Madeleine Finney-Brown - MSF doctor
Madeleine Finney-Brown
Paediatrician
"Living proof": Health, poverty, and one young patient in South Sudan
Doctor Madeleine explains how poverty, climate and instability are forcing families into impossible choices...
04 Feb 2021 / 4 minute read
A bed in the paediatric intensive care unit in Aweil, South Sudan, awaits its next patient
Madeleine Finney-Brown - MSF doctor
Madeleine Finney-Brown
Paediatrician
“We hope they wake up”: Saving children from cerebral malaria in South Sudan
Paediatric doctor Madeleine describes how an MSF team are dealing with the terrible effects of cerebral malaria on young children as the dangerous malaria "peak" hits
29 Jan 2021 / 4 minute read
Jonathan Pernet, MSF finance manager
Jonathan Pernet
Field Administration
South Sudan: The finishing line is the starting line
As the new year begins, Jonathan finds himself on the brink of another new start, as he prepares to join the team at an MSF project in South Sudan
15 Jan 2021 / 5 minute read
Jonathan Pernet, MSF finance manager
Jonathan Pernet
Field Administration
Tears, then smiles ... (well, I hope so)
How does it feel to start an international posting with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) for the first time? Jonathan writes from the airport ...
05 Jan 2021 / 4 minute read
Dr Ebenezer Ngwakwe at work in Old Fangak hospital
Ebenezer Ngwakwe
Ebenezer Ngwakwe
Doctor
Hope and humanitarian medical care in Old Fangak, South Sudan
With the right medications and enough to eat, people with HIV can live long, healthy lives. But what happens when you live in a place where access to these basics is a challenge? Dr Ebenezer Ngwakwe writes...
01 Dec 2020 / 8 minute read
Laura and members of the MSF team in Juba, South Sudan
Laura Wright
Laura Wright
Epidemiologist
COVID-19 in South Sudan: Do you leave, or do you stay?
Sweat, fear, perseverance. Epidemiologist Laura shares a fly-on-the-wall account of how a team more accustomed to malaria and malnutrition took on the pandemic.
01 Nov 2020 / 14 minute read