LocationsGovernment, UNDP and Partners Ask Donors to Continue Health Funding
June 23, 2025
The installation of oxygen plants boosted local production and reduced reliance on neighbouring countries for this vital, lifesaving supply, which is often the difference between life and death.
The Government of South Sudan, the United Nations and networks of people living with HIV and tuberculosis have called for sustained support for health amidst disruptions in international development assistance that has affected life-saving health interventions. They also urged donors and development partners to support the eighth replenishment drive of the Global Fund designed to mobilize resources to save 23 million lives between 2027 and 2029, reduce the combined HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria mortalities from 2.3 million to one (1) million and prevent around 400 million new infections.
This call was made during a donor engagement event organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and the Country Coordinating Mechanism to showcase results achieved in the management of Global Fund grants in South Sudan. The event targeted major Global Fund donors with presence in South Sudan. It involved a tour of the Riverside Warehouse, Gumbo – a major storage facility for HIV and TB commodities and as well as health waste management and production of medical oxygen.
The joint field visit was an opportunity to showcase the impact of Global Fund investments in concrete terms.
Speaking during the event, the UN Deputy Special Representative, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Ms. Anita Kiki Gbeho said, “Thanks to the generous contributions of our partners to the Global Fund; we are seeing tangible progress in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, as well as in strengthening South Sudan’s health systems.” Ms. Anita Kiki Gbeho singled out last year 2024 when “75,873 people received antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 19,470 people were cured of tuberculosis out of 22,930 registered TB cases in 2023 - representing 84.9% treatment success rate.”
Minister reassures on government funding
The Minister of Labour Hon. James Hoth Mai who was the Acting Minister of Health at the time commended the Global Fund as “a key partner, providing funding for HIV, TB, malaria and health systems strengthening in South Sudan and for having its priorities aligned to those of the government.” He also reiterated Government’s commitment to increasing its annual budgetary allocations to the health sector.
The occasion was spruced with testimonies of people affected and living with the three diseases, indicating, for instance, how the antiretroviral therapy medication has helped them live long and healthy lives and how thanks to Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission, HIV-positive parents are giving birth to healthy children.
Inside Riverside Warehouse, Gumbo. Over 245 health facilities get their HIV/AIDS and TB drugs and laboratory reagents from here.
Support for the Global Fund’s 8th replenishment drive
Ahead of the Global Fund’s 8th replenishment for 2027–2029, co-hosted by South Africa and the United Kingdom, Ms. Anita Kiki Gbeho requested donors to support the fundraising drive, “I urge partners to channel flexible catalytic resources to close critical gaps in integrated disease surveillance, rapid-response teams, and cross-border laboratory networks, so that South Sudan’s hard-won gains against HIV, TB and malaria are not undone by cholera and other emerging outbreaks.”
Similarly, Dr. Mohamed Abchir, the UNDP Resident Representative, thanked South Africa and the United Kingdom for the important role they are playing as co-hosts and wished them a successful event, “I would like to urge all donors to please support the replenishment drive. Together we can continue making a difference in the lives of the people of this nation of great potential,” he said.
Given the complex security, political, economic and humanitarian situation in the country, Dr. Abchir noted that the people of South Sudan still need support to overcome these challenges.
A visit to one of the incinerators. The incinerators render hazardous waste harmless and protect public health.
Through these drugs, 245 hospitals and health facilities across the country are offering essential HIV and TB services to all who need them.
Hospitals and health facilities also get medical oxygen from this warehouse and assemble medical and pharmaceutical waste here for incineration. Eleven more incinerators were recently procured and are being installed in different health facilities bringing the total number procured through the Global Fund support to fourteen.