South Sudan, Uganda agree to ease cross-border emergency health response
South Sudan and Uganda have agreed to remove administrative barriers to enable the rapid movement of health workers, medical vehicles and emergency supplies across their shared border during public health emergencies.
The agreement was formalized on Monday evening in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, where the two countries’ health ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) focused on strengthening cross-border disease surveillance, joint outbreak response and regional health security, Xinhua reported.
South Sudan’s Vice President for the Service Cluster, Hussein Abdelbagi Akol, said the government would expedite temporary visa and work permit waivers to ensure emergency personnel can cross the border without unnecessary delays and support joint surveillance efforts.
“The Republic of South Sudan and the Republic of Uganda stand united in our resolve of strengthening cross-border collaboration, seamless information sharing, and preparedness and coordinated response to the public health threat,” Akol said during the signing ceremony.
South Sudan’s Health Minister Luke Thompson Thoan Teny said the MoU would transform bilateral cooperation from informal goodwill into an institutionalized rapid-response framework. He warned that localized disease outbreaks could quickly develop into regional emergencies.
Under the agreement, the two countries will share epidemiological data in real time, issue mutual alerts about outbreaks, conduct joint contact tracing, standardize border health screening and coordinate the deployment of mobile health units.
Uganda’s Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi stressed the importance of the agreement given frequent cross-border movement and lessons learned from previous epidemics.
He noted that Uganda contained its most recent Ebola outbreak in about 73 days, recording 20 confirmed cases, 18 recoveries and two deaths. Baryomunsi reaffirmed Uganda’s willingness to share its experience in containing outbreaks with South Sudan.
He urged both countries to move quickly from signing the agreement to implementing it, saying a structured roadmap should establish clear priorities, responsibilities, timelines and resources.
Baryomunsi also called for broader regional cooperation and proposed establishing a standby health workforce that could be rapidly deployed to countries experiencing disease outbreaks, similar to existing regional security arrangements.
Tolbert Geewleh Nyenswah, South Sudan Country Director for the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the country had identified 15 high-risk counties and 22 priority entry points as key elements of its preparedness strategy.
Nyenswah added that South Sudan’s updated six-month preparedness plan requires more than $30 million to strengthen laboratory infrastructure, medical supplies, logistics, disease surveillance and the safety of healthcare workers.