by Mary-Sanyu Osire
Jau / SOUTHERN SUDAN, 02 July 2011 – The International Organization for Migration estimates that in the past month, 3,700 people have fled Jau, a small border town sandwiched between northern and southern Sudan.
Brief history of the region
The conflict in Sudan has been a long, convoluted civil war that recently culminated in a referendum that saw the southern region of the country overwhelmingly vote to secede from the North.
On the eve of preparations to mark the South’s Independence Day, pockets of resistance have sprung up across southern Sudan. Seven former army officers in the ruling southern Sudan’s People’s Liberation Movement have now turned the gun’s barrel against the movement, citing irreconcilable differences pegged to corruption and nepotism.
Displaced populations and health
According to a recent study that was commissioned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), “chronic and sustained human flight” is a major factor that contributes towards Sudan being one of the most unstable nations in the world.
Amnesty International paints a grim picture of the situation: “Sudan has the largest population of internally displaced persons in the world.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs places the figure of displaced persons in Sudan at four million.
Internally displaced southern Sudanese sleep on the floor of a church in the village of Mayen Abun, southern Sudan on Thursday May 26, 2011. Photo: Peter Muller / AP
Migration is a social determinant of health because mobile populations are often unable to enjoy the quality of health care that is at the disposal of static communities. For the Jau, the problem is compounded by the fact that displacement camps like the ones they have fled to are more susceptible to outbreaks of infections like cholera, tuberculosis and meningitis, which are highly contagious and thrive in crowded settlements with collapsed social amenities.
However, as the International Organization for Migration points out, it is important to note that not all migrants and mobile populations are equally at risk to adverse health: “It is not the movement per se that makes these migrants vulnerable, but rather the way in which they move and the context in which movement takes place. For example, separation from family, alcohol use and a lack of effective prevention programming may drive risky sexual behavior thus fuel HIV transmission in displacement camps.”
Such disparities between the needs of static and mobile populations are the primary reason why some countries have implemented specialized health care systems for highly mobile segments of their population. For example, the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation in Kenya has mobile health teams and roaming health centres that attend to health concerns of nomads in northern Kenya.
The Way Forward
A concerted effort is required to ensure that the new government of southern Sudan incorporates the unique health concerns of mobile and migrant populations in its national health strategy. This would involve measures like drawing up policies and strategies that address these needs, carrying out research to establish gaps that need to be bridged, implementing health promotion activities and bolstering service delivery.
“Migrant friendly” health systems are essential because mobile groups like traders, truck drivers, pastoralists, and in this case the displaced populations of Jau do not live in isolation. They are part of the community and as such their health status has an impact on the community at-large.
END//
Region: Africa, Eastern Africa, South Sudan
Theme(s): Migration, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Health
The author is a humanitarian analyst and she writes on migration health. Email her on: msanyu@yahoo.com
