Coronavirus: vulnerable
populations at risk in South Sudan
 |
| South Sudan fleeing violence in a camp for IDPs (AFP) |
South Sudan’s government has put measures into place to
prevent the spread of Covid-19 but millions of displaced people are at
heightened risk.
By Linda Bordoni
Like other governments across the globe, South Sudan has
planned a series of measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus
pandemic.
A ban has been placed on inbound and outbound flights,
affected citizens have been ordered to self-quarantine and mass gatherings are
prohibited.
But the reality on the ground in the world’s youngest
country is complex. Seven years of civil war have torn the country apart,
contributing to very limited services and creating emergencies for displaced
people and prisoners.
Internally displaced persons
More than 1.5 million people remain internally displaced as
a result of conflict, with hundreds of thousands of them living in cramped
refugee camps.
Thousands more, who fled recent intercommunal fighting, are
already in dire need of aid, including sanitation and medical care.
Detention centers
Meanwhile, South Sudan’s prisons and its National Security
Service detention sites reportedly continue to be overcrowded, unsanitary, and
with inadequate medical care.
None of these are contexts in which social isolation alone
can be reasonably counted on to limit the spread of the virus.
Although fragile, at this dramatic time of global crisis,
South Sudan’s new unity government is called to step-up action to achieve two
important goals: uphold basic human rights by providing accurate information -
including freedom of press - and more health care services, and take steps to
responsibly contain the global health threat.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét