A woman carries firewood in South Sudan. South Sudan is set to vote on whether to seperate from the rest of the country on 9 January.On 9 January 2011 the people of southern Sudan are scheduled to vote in an historic referendum on whether to remain part of the north or to form a new country. In the coming months, 150,000 southern Sudanese living in the north are expected to make the multi-day journey south.
More than 28,128 returnees from Khartoum have already arrived in government-organized convoys in Unity State. Poor road conditions due to heavy rains and flooding forced over 7,000 people to take shelter in four schools in Bentiu town near the border, but most of the returnees have now managed to reach their homes. By mid-December, around 1,529 people are still accommodated in schools, and arrangements are being made to help them return home.
In addition to our ongoing activities in Unity State, we are helping the returnees by:
- Providing medical treatment through the CARE mobile clinic.
- Providing heath care for pregnant women, including vaccinations.
- Providing antenatal care for new mothers.
- Providing mosquito nets to new mothers and their babies.
- Vaccinating children for polio, measles and tuberculosis.
- Educating people about measles, in coordination with the Ministry of Health and the WHO.
We are pre-positioning relief items so we are able to respond immediately if more people arrive in need of aid. We have already released US$136,000 (100,000€) from our emergency fund, and are appealing for a further US$500,000 to pre-position relief items such as medical supplies, water purification tablets, mosquito nets, and nutritional supplements for malnourished children.
CARE has worked in Sudan since 1979. In the south, we operate rehabilitation and development activities in water and sanitation, peacebuilding, health, and livelihoods. In the north, we are represented by CARE International Switzerland (CIS), with activities in water and sanitation, hygiene education, primary health care, nutrition and livelihoods support.
