Southern Sudan - A Medair team treks through bush, mountains, swamps, and croc-inhabited rivers to protect children from deadly measles in remote Southern Sudan.
This past November, Medair's Health ERT (Emergency Response Team) heard about a recurring measles outbreak in remote Pibor County, an area in southeast Jonglei State that has been particularly susceptible to the disease. In the past, other organisations have attempted to combat the threat of measles in this region, but they were hampered by the remoteness and inaccessibility of the many dispersed, nomadic communities.
"Health services in this area have been very neglected," said James Keah, Medair ERT Community Liaison Manager. "Apart from the hospital in Boma, there are no health facilities, and it takes one to three days on foot just to get there. "
Medair's ERT has the capacity to react immediately to unmet emergency health needs in the whole of Southern Sudan, and to be on-the-ground in less than five working days. However, our ERT was unable to intervene last November because the region was completely inaccessible due to the rainy season. In January, soon after the dry season began, Medair's ERT launched an intervention to bring essential measles vaccine to some of the hardest-to-reach people in the country.
Starting from the hospital in the town of Boma, the intrepid team began trekking out to find and assist the communities in three neighbouring areas. Each trip required between five and 12 hours of driving just to establish a base camp, and then several more hours of either car or foot travel to reach the community.
Through mountains
The first part of the expedition took the team east, in search of the Kajibu tribe, the smallest tribe in Southern Sudan. The ERT crossed mountains on a boulder-strewn foot-path that was virtually impassable, at times requiring the use of winches to proceed.. After two days of slow and strenuous travel, the team encountered the Kajibu people on the way to the village. The chief quickly gathered many members of the community to help clear the last few kilometres of road leading to the first village.
"They worked hard," said Moses Pham, Medair ERT Field Logistician, "removing boulders and using pangas to cut down trees so that we could pass. We set up our camp in that first village and walked to the others, about two hours on foot."
In total, approximately 1,200 children were vaccinated, all between the ages of six months and 15 years of age. The local chiefs were very grateful that Medair had come to help them, since there is no organisation working there and they feel forgotten by the outside world.
"The Kajibu are especially vulnerable because of their remoteness," said Moses. "Not only is there no road, but also no health post, no school, no market. People have to walk two days across a mountain to reach Boma, the nearest town."
Through heat
The next phase of Medair's mission was to head back west into the territory of the nomadic Jie tribe, who live in camps with their cattle herds. Finding these sparse camps was especially demanding since they were so isolated. Many of them could only be reached on foot by up to five-hour hikes, sometimes through swampland. The intense heat melted the ice in the cool boxes that the team carried to keep the vaccines cold.
Tempers began to run high among the locally recruited team members who demanded extra pay for the unanticipated rigours of the work, after walking almost 80 kilometres just to reach the first camp.
Perhaps most discouraging was the fact that so few children were found. "Only about 150 were vaccinated, even though the team made it to all but one of the camps that had stayed in the county," said Alan Service, Medair ERT Nurse.
"This is always the risk when searching for cattle camps," said Alan. "Boys go with the cows and only return to the camps at night to water the cows. The melting ice limited our time on the ground, and we couldn't stay in every camp overnight, so some of those boys were missed."
For the children who were reached, mobilising them to administer the vaccine was the easiest part of the mission. "The Jie tribe has a word for measles in their local language, which means they are familiar with the disease, and are eager to protect their children from it," said Nadine Erikson, Medair ERT Team Leader.
Through rivers
The final campaign was due north of Boma, into the territory of the Murle tribe, some of whom live in villages while others travel in cattle camps. After some problems with their translators on the first legs of the journey, this time the team enlisted two local workers who happened to be the only people in the area who could speak English.
Tracking the locations of the Murle nomads was very difficult and the team encountered some who already had measles. "To reach some of the villages," said Gaby Service, Medair ERT Nurse, "we had to swim across a river at a point that the local people told us was free of crocodiles. We used our empty cooking pots to float our equipment across!"
Despite the arduous journey, the expedition was a resounding success, with a total of 900 Murle children vaccinated in a dozen villages and camps.
All in all, this emergency response presented some major access challenges for our staff. Throughout the mission, they demonstrated an extraordinary level of commitment—a commitment that is routinely displayed by our Health ERT and our teams across Sudan.
Although the beneficiaries were aware of the dangers of measles, their physical remoteness left them quite vulnerable to the threat. And so, with courage and perseverance, our Medair team literally went the extra mile to protect the lives of over 2,000 of the world's most vulnerable children.
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Medair brings life-saving relief and rehabilitation in disasters, conflict areas, and other crises by working alongside the most vulnerable. Its internationally recruited staff are motivated by their Christian faith to care for people in need, providing practical and compassionate support, regardless of race, religion, or politics. Founded in 1989, Medair has an unwavering commitment to bring hope to the world's most vulnerable.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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