Eight people, including five children, have died from cholera in South Sudan’s Jonglei state, as critical health services close down due to international funding cuts. Save the Children confirmed the deaths and warned on April 9 that patients are now being forced to walk for hours to access medical help, with seven clinics shut and others operating in a limited capacity under volunteer care.
The closures follow the withdrawal of key U.S. aid programmes across East Africa, leaving vast swathes of conflict- and drought-affected regions without essential support.
Chris Nyamandi, Save the Children’s Country Director in South Sudan, condemned the situation, urging the international community to recognise the human cost of aid decisions made far from the crisis zones. “There should be global moral outrage,” he said, stressing that children’s lives are being lost within weeks of the aid cuts. Local health officials described conditions on the ground as “catastrophic”, with just one fully functioning government facility in the area and nationwide cholera cases exceeding 46,000, according to the health ministry.
The outbreak comes amid growing fears of renewed civil conflict in South Sudan, following recent military clashes and rising political tensions. Meanwhile, across East Africa, millions more face deepening hunger and deteriorating health as aid shortfalls ripple through countries like Somalia, where WFP support has already been halved. Although the U.S. has acknowledged some of the aid programme terminations were mistaken and has begun to reverse certain cuts, humanitarian agencies warn that lives continue to hang in the balance.