The African Development Bank (AfDB) on Wednesday approved a 4.16 million U.S. dollar grant to South Sudan to support the emergency response to COVID-19 and strengthen the country’s fragile health system.
The lender said the grant provides funding for the project to enhance the capacity of South Sudan’s health facilities and to bolster the country’s capacity to detect cases and curb the spread of the virus.
“The country remains at high risk. With limited hospital bed capacity, gaps in health workers’ skills and competencies and a lack of functioning medical equipment, South Sudan is ill-prepared to respond to the pandemic,” the bank said in a statement.
South Sudan reported its first case of COVID-19 on April 5, followed by increasing numbers of cases daily.
As of June 16, the country had reported 1,807 cases, 31 deaths and 89 recoveries amid concerns the cases are mostly local transmissions.
