Afcon 2023: Sudan players hope to 'bring joy'. Sudan football on the up says ex Newcastle midfielder Clark

Report at BBC News Sport Africa

By Morad Dakhil

Football Writer

Published Monday 19 June 2023 - full copy:

Afcon 2023: Sudan players hope to 'bring joy' to war-torn nation

Sudan will move to the top of Group I with one game to go if they beat Mauritania on Tuesday

Midfielder Muataz Hashem says Sudan are looking to bring joy to football fans in the war-torn country by clinching qualification for next year's Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).

Sudan face Mauritania on Tuesday, knowing a win will take them top of Group I with one game remaining.

The Secretary Birds are the home side but are being forced to train and play in Morocco because of the ongoing conflict in their country.

"[It is] very difficult to be far from your country, land and stadium," Hashem told BBC Sport Africa.

"But we count on determination and persistence, and all my colleagues are aware of this task."

• Sudan crisis: the football coach forced to flee for his life
• Sudan football on the up, says former Newcastle midfielder Clark
• Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia - the origins of the Nations Cup

Sudan's 1-0 win against Gabon in their previous qualifier has raised hopes of a second successive appearance at an Afcon finals.

The 1970 champions played that game in front of their own fans in Omdurman on 27 March, three weeks before the conflict led the national federation to suspend all football in the country.

"We have to forget the circumstances in which my country is living today," added Hashem.

"We have to focus on football in order to bring joy to the Sudanese people - who need joy to mitigate their suffering and forget their circumstances, even for a few days."

Sudan head coach Badou Zaki, who was only appointed in March, helped choose the venue for both the current training camp and the match with Mauritania at the Adrar Stadium in Agadir.

The team has already played several warm-up matches in their new North African home.

Hashem insists the game against Mauritania goes beyond what happens on the pitch and represents an opportunity to unify all Sudanese.

"Our victory may help stabilise Sudan," said the 27-year-old.

"We are counting on the spirit of the group and our goal is to take the name of Sudan high."

A win and a draw from their final two games will be enough to book Sudan's place at the tournament in Ivory Coast.

The team's final group game will be away at current group leaders the Democratic Republic of Congo in September.

View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/africa/65929852

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S. Sudan: 2,699 Ebola cases in DR Congo

Article from United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Dated 01 August 2019

South Sudan: Ebola Preparedness Dashboard (July 2019)

SITUATION UPDATE

At the end of July a total of 2,699 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) cases had been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with 1,782 deaths (case fatality rate of 67 per cent). 

The risk of EVD spreading to South Sudan remained very high but there were no confirmed cases. 

Eleven alerts were reported and verified during the month, with results of laboratory testing using GeneXpert available within 48 hours.

Progress towards targets under the National EVD Preparedness Plan continued. 

The number of border points of entry providing screening reached 32, with over 304,000 primary screenings and over 300 secondary screenings conducted. 

Some 180 frontline workers from 8 organisations across the Yei area were vaccinated.

Preventive messages were broadcast through more than 2,300 radio spots, while over 400 key community influencers were engaged. 

The number of trained and equipped safe and dignified burial teams increased to 13. 

While additional funding contributions were under consideration, preparedness efforts remained underfunded with U$10.7 million still to be secured against planned requirements.

INFOGRAPHIC

from World Health Organization, Government of the Republic of South Sudan

Published on 23 Aug 2019 —

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SOURCE:https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/south-sudan/infographic/south-sudan-ebola-preparedness-dashboard-july-2019

S. Sudan: Dispels fears of Ebola outbreak

Article from Radio Tamazuj.org

Date: 7 July 2019 Juba, South Sudan

South Sudan dispels fears of Ebola outbreak

File photo: WHO Uganda

South Sudan’s Ministry of Health has dispelled fears of an Ebola outbreak following a confirmed case in Aliwara, in the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), some 70 kilometers from the border.

Addressing reporters in Juba on Friday, the undersecretary in the health ministry, Makur Matur Koriom said South Sudan is safe from the Ebola virus.

"I would like to take the opportunity to assure the South Sudanese people and residents in this country that so far there is no Ebola in South Sudan," he said.

"We responded quickly and the national taskforce convened on that day and immediately informed the taskforce and our partners in Yei about the developments in the DRC," he added.

Meanwhile, World Health Organization (WHO) officer in charge of health emergencies in South Sudan, Guracha Guyo said they are committed to improve Ebola preparedness mechanisms in the country.

"All of us are committed to support the government in its endeavor to make sure that the Ebola virus will be prevented from coming to South Sudan," he said.

According to the WHO official, more than 700 frontline healthcare workers have been provided with Ebola vaccines in Yei River State.

South Sudan suffered Ebola outbreak in 2004 after WHO reported 20 cases, including five deaths, from Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) in Yambio.

Ebola is a rare but deadly virus that causes fever, body aches, and diarrhea, and sometimes bleeding inside and outside the body.

SOURCE: https://radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/south-sudan-dispels-fears-of-ebola-outbreak
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Photo: A worker from the World Health Organisation decontaminates the doorway of a house on a plot where two cases of Ebola were found, in the village of Mabalako, in eastern Congo, 17 June 2019.

S. Sudan: On alert for Ebola virus

Article from Voice of America News.com

By DIMO SILVA AURELIO 

Date: 4 July 2019

South Sudan on High Alert for Ebola Virus

JUBA , SOUTH SUDAN - South Sudan’s health officials are ramping up efforts to prevent the deadly Ebola virus from entering the country following a confirmed case some 70 kilometers from the border, in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Dr. Pinyi Nyimol, South Sudan's director general for disease control and emergency response services, said the health ministry has sent seven personnel to the Yei River state, which borders Congo. "The aim is to strengthen the surveillance and preparedness for Ebola,” Nyimol told VOA's South Sudan in Focus.

“We are more worried because it is coming nearer because people are moving, so anybody, a contact can cross to South Sudan and the only thing we can do is to enhance our surveillance and screening and also to alert our health care workers about this and anybody coming, they have to start with traveling history and ask whether this person has been in DRC or not,” Nyimol said.

Photo: Ebola case reported not far from South Sudan border. Authorities have confirmed an Ebola case just 70 kilometres (43 miles) from Congo's border with South Sudan

The case was registered Tuesday in Ariwara, a trading center. The person, a 40-year-old woman, had traveled some 500 kilometers from Beni, in Congo's North Kivu province, according to Congolese officials.

North Kivu is an epicenter of the Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 1,500 people.  

Nyimol says it is the first confirmed case close to the South Sudan-DRC border since the outbreak erupted last August in eastern Congo.

He said for the last six months, South Sudan has been under high alert and increased its surveillance response at several border screening centers.

“We have points of entry doing screening at the high-risk states, we have Ebola treatment unit here in Juba and there is a laboratory and we have an ambulance ready for any suspect and there are trained staff and if there is a suspected case at Juba International Airport, it can be collected and taken for investigation; the same [is true] at the Juba Nimule border entry,” said Nyimol.

A number of people from the DRC cross into South Sudan’s Yei River State on a daily basis, according to South Sudanese health officials.

The Ebola virus is a deadly disease that affects humans and non-human primates.  Symptoms include unexplained bleeding, high fever, severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, and vomiting. The virus is spread through body fluids, such as the blood of an infected person.

SOURCE: https://www.voanews.com/africa/south-sudan-focus/south-sudan-high-alert-ebola-virus