Juba, 25 August 2017: The functional review exercise for WHO South Sudan Country office successfully commenced on 24 August, 2017. This six-day exercise is part of the WHO transformation agenda (2015-2020), which the WHO Africa Region has embarked on for all the 47 WHO Country Offices in the Region. South Sudan WHO country office is the 5th to be reviewed among the 18 countries scheduled for this year.

This functional review exercise will involve evaluation of the country’s health priorities, WHO work plans and funding in an effort to ensure the alignment of the workforce with the country needs and priorities. The 7 steps exercise involves country visits.

The functional review team headed by Dr. Anders Nordström, is in Juba on a six-day mission to support the country office to execute this important undertaking. During their visit the team will meet and have dialogue with different stakeholders including the Ministry of Health, UN country team and bilateral partners as well as WHO staff working at national and field levels to seek their views which will inform the expected results of the review. The HR Representative on the team will also meet with staff and staff association to address their human resource and related needs.

The functional review is expected to improve the capacity of WHO country offices in the region to deliver high quality technical advice and operational support relevant to and appreciated by governments and the international partners.