South Sudan

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.

Erin Lever

Midwife

Family and floods: Saving two lives in South Sudan

In South Sudan, catastrophic flooding has left many communities cut off from essential healthcare and basic necessities. Midwife Erin Lever tells the story of a critically ill mother whose family were determined to get her to the treatment she needed…

28 Jan 2022 / 6 minute read

Priscilla Wangare

Midwife

“She’s looking at me… she’s alive”: The extremely premature baby who fought all expectations

The odds are stacked high against a tiny baby born at just 26 weeks in a remote maternity unit. From South Sudan, MSF midwife Priscilla shares this incredible story.

15 Sep 2021 / 4 minute read

MSF landcruisers ready to depart towards Pieri

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 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

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

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

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

An MSF car drives past cows in South Sudan

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

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

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 between Sudan and South Sudan

15 Jan 2021 / 5 minute read

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

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