The cholera epidemic in South Sudan this year has been far  less worse than predicted by the National Ministry of Health, an official has said.

‘To-date, about two thousand cases of cholera have been recorded since the latest outbreak, with slightly over 20 deaths’ Dr.Thomas Akim said in an interview on Miraya Breakfast show. “We have been having deaths all over but the number of deaths has been lower, which gives us a very low fertility rate compared to the previous years,”

In June, the National Ministry of Health declared a cholera outbreak. Cholera spreads from person-to-person through contaminated food and water and can be deadly if untreated. This year, the latest cholera cases were first detected in Juba about three months ago. Cholera then spread to five regions including Jubek, Terekeka, Jonglei, East Nile and Imatong, Thomas Akim,  Says that the latest outbreak was triggered by poor water and sanitation facilities, “In Juba most of the people get water brought by the tankers. The water may not be purified and that is the cause of the disease,” said

but a massive response by the Ministry of Health with assistance from the health clusters, succeeded in keeping the prevalence rate low.

“A cholera treatment center was opened  at Juba teaching Hospital, 12 oral rehydration centers were established in Juba and 114 emergency centers opened to provide speedy response to the patients.”

Additionally, the Ministry of health introduced a new cholera intervention strategy which has been applauded for keeping the cholera caseloads lower. The strategy has also helped increase awareness and protection

According to Dr. Thomas Akim,  the Cholera household and community intervention strategy allows Teams go to the communities and carry out health education.

“The teams also carry out health education, and community assessments to ensure that people stick to health regulations; the kitchen are clean and utensils are hang on a dryer, the toilets are, rubbish pits are clean,”

Community health workers also carry charts and posters which are used to illustrate the causes, symptoms and remedies for cholera.

Cholera is easily curable if you have proper water sanitation and hygiene.