WHO South Sudan – Voices from the field: Issue #25, 27 October 2026

Please refer to the attached file. Every Child Counts: One Polio Response, Seven Vaccines, Reaching Children in South Sudan’s Sobat Corridor By: Hassan Dakat, Dr Eric Rurangwa, Joshua Brown and Dr Mutale Senkwe. UPPER NILE STATE – In Maiwut County, near the Ethiopian border, seasonal flooding cuts off roads for months. Health facilities are far apart, and some villages had gone years without a vaccination visit. Then, in February 2026, a 14-month-old child lost the ability to stand. “When the child in our community could no longer stand, we were afraid, ” says Nyachap Tang Yol, a mother and caregiver in Maiwut. “The clinic is far, and when the rain comes the road disappears. ” Tests confirmed circulating vaccine derived poliovirus type 1 (cVDPV1) on 6 March. Genetic analysis suggested the virus had been spreading undetected for around three years. Linked detections in eight other children showed that it was circulating beyond the child who developed paralysis. Since then, cVDPV1 cases have been confirmed in Maiwut, Nasir, Malakal, Longochuk, Pibor and Juba, and cVDPV2 cases in Tonj South, Tonj East, Ayod and Awerial. The investigation also revealed how many children had missed vaccination. Of those assessed 72% had never received their first dose of inactivated polio vaccine, and 89% had not received their second. Many had missed other routine vaccines too. Across the Sobat Corridor, the same barriers that leave children unprotected against polio also leave them vulnerable to measles, whooping cough, pneumonia and other vaccine-preventable diseases.

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