Juba, Dec 1 (IANS): South Sudan, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), announced that it has secured more than 282,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine (OCV) to carry out vaccination campaigns in areas identified as cholera transmission hotspots.

The Ministry of Health on Saturday said that the vaccines will be strategically deployed to Upper Nile State and other priority locations, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Cholera prevention is a priority in areas targeted for multisectoral intervention," Minister of Health Yolanda Awel Deng said in a statement issued in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

Awel said that the campaigns aim to protect vulnerable populations and serve as a foundational step toward implementing sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene interventions.

The vaccines will be used to implement a two-dose mass vaccination campaign in Renk and Malakal counties in Upper Nile State, the minister added.

In the coming days, the minister noted, additional doses will be shipped to support response efforts in other affected locations. The vaccination campaign aims to mitigate cholera outbreaks in these areas.

According to Humphrey Karamagi, WHO representative in South Sudan, cholera is endemic in the country. "The strategic interventions include OCV campaigns in at-risk areas, training of state-level rapid response teams, and prepositioning and provision of diagnostic test kits and essential supplies for managing patients. These measures have enhanced surveillance and enabled prompt responses to suspected and confirmed cases," Karamagi said.

According to the WHO, cholera continues to pose a significant public health challenge in South Sudan, exacerbated by ongoing humanitarian crises that primarily affect children, women and other vulnerable groups.