Juba, February/March 2016 - South Sudan has laid the foundations to scale up the fight against Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) by 2020. Following the launch of the Master Plan in December 2015, the Ministry of Health and WHO completed the nationwide training of NTD mapping and has embarked on a national mapping exercise for Schistosomiasis (SCH), Soil Transmitted Helminthiasis (STH) and Lymphatic Filariasis (LF). The exercise commences with mapping of 31 Counties in the first phase.

Due to the highest burden of NTDs in the country, regional capacity in NTD control will be an important factor in ensuring success of the national program scale-up. As a result, the MoH reached out WHO to support the implementation of WHO’s NTD mapping training and survey.

The MoH, supported by the WHO raised and trained 10 teams for the mapping exercises. WHO also provided all the necessary financial and logistics support to conduct the exercise in the 31 Counties.

The trained teams, supported by technical experts spends four weeks in the field mapping of Schistosomiasis, Soil Transmitted Helminths and Lymphatic Filariasis in 31 Counties to determine the incidence, prevalence and the geographical distribution of these diseases. All confirmed positive cases will be treated on site. The outcome of this mapping exercise will provide scientific evidence on the prevalence of the three diseases and provide guidance on the type of interventions to put in place. The outcome of the exercise will also be used to lobby for funding and partnerships to scale up interventions for elimination of STH, SCH and LF in line with the 2020 global targets for elimination of PC-NTDs.

Integrated mapping has several advantages over disease specific mapping by reducing costs and enabling co-endemic areas to be more precisely identified, said Mr Evans Liyosi, Focal Point for NTDs at WHO South Sudan.

Speaking during the launch Dr Senkwe Mutale, the WHO  IST Harare Mapping Technical Officer, appreciated participant’s interest and commitment to make good use of the opportunity to acquire skills in the use of available mapping tools to enhance the NTD control activities.

Appropriate targeting of treatments requires scientific evidence based information on the geographical distribution and prevalence of infection in order to identify high-risk areas that might benefit most from integrated control, said  Dr John Rumunu, Director General of Communicable Disease and Public Health at the Ministry of Health .

The exercise involves the sensitization and participation of the Ministry of Education, school teachers as well as community leaders.

NTDs have been neglected in the past and have collectively caused untold hardships and misery to millions of people globally especially in South Sudan and Sub-Saharan Africa at large. The mapping exercise is part of the global 2020 Neglected Tropical Disease Goals aimed at accelerating work in all countries to overcome the global elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

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For more information, please contact:

Technical Contacts: Mr Evans Liyosi - +211-955037645; liyosie [at] who.int Communication Contact: Ms Jemila M. Ebrahim- +211-950450007; ebrahimj [at] who.int