A Healthier Future for South Sudan's Families

Samuel is full of heart. It’s something more than passion or conviction for a cause; it’s a delicate hopefulness and an innate joyfulness. As a Nutrition Manager for International Medical Corps, Samuel consistently confronts harrowing starvation in children and, sometimes, devastating loss. But his memory is also abundant with many successes: smiling mothers and children, growing healthy, who would not have lived had International Medical Corps not been there.

Samuel’s first job with International Medical Corps took him from Uganda to South Sudan, as a Social Behavior Change Nutrition Manager, in 2012. In the very remote area where he first worked in South Sudan, people had no access to medical services before International Medical Corps arrived, and levels of hunger were exceptionally high. The work was dangerous because of constant outbreaks of intercommunal violence.

South Sudan became independent in 2011, and a bloody civil war broke out two years later. Since the beginning of the conflict in South Sudan, 4 million people have left their homes—85% of them women and children. In an economy where agriculture is often inextricably linked to one’s income, armed conflict and displacement destroy both livestock and farmland, crushing whatever modest income opportunities once existed in farming-reliant communities. Today, one-third of the population in South Sudan—4.8 million people—lacks access to food and a staggering 7 million people need humanitarian aid.

But Samuel sees humanitarian work as “quite encouraging” with the difference he can make. “You see a mother who has lost hope—but then, through the treatment, the child survives and thrives again, and she can take him or her home healthy,” Samuel says. “This encourages the health facility workers and they feel hopeful. It’s very rewarding.”

He describes with palpable emotion how “incredibly moving” it was to see health workers and mothers arrive at the International Medical Corps field office to collect medication and nutrition supplies, and transport them to health facilities deep in the rural areas. The teams would walk for days carrying 33-pound cartons of Plumpy'nut to treat and nourish starving children, as well as bringing much-needed medicine to underserved communities.

In 2013, Samuel moved to South Sudan’s capital, Juba, supervising nutrition managers based in five field offices, including in one of South Sudan’s largest refugee camps, Maban. He and his colleagues faced many challenges in getting supplies; often, planes could not land because of fighting or heavy rains. But “we were able to collaborate with other actors to get services to those in need,” says Samuel. “I am very proud of our work in South Sudan.” He is particularly proud of the training he provided for national staff, enabling them to treat acute malnutrition cases and write and analyze data reports.

We thank you and the GlobalGiving community for helping us providing these lifesaving services in South Sudan.

Even in the most industrialized countries, the stigma surrounding mental illness continues to prevent individuals from seeking out and receiving the care they need. In developing nations, the stigma is often more pronounced, and those with mental health concerns can experience marginalization, isolation, and exploitation within their communities. With the lack of available mental health services in the developing world, many face these challenges alone.

As a Mental Health Specialist for International Medical Corps in South Sudan, Esubalew is committed to changing this reality. For the past four years, Esubalew and his team have been providing mental health and psychosocial support to vulnerable men, women, and children in some of the hardest-to-reach and volatile areas of South Sudan. With the lack of awareness of mental health care services and absence of skilled health professionals across the country, Esubalew has worked tirelessly to integrate mental health into primary care services to ensure that vulnerable refugees and internally displaced communities have access to the care they need.

For Esubalew, it was an “intrinsic feeling to work with most vulnerable and socially disadvantaged refugees,” that led him to pursue medical school and ultimately, a career in mental health. Working as a general practitioner and emergency obstetrician in his home country of Ethiopia before joining International Medical Corps, Esubalew saw enormous gaps in the mental health services available in his community. After returning school for a degree in psychiatry, Esubalew joined International Medical Corps as a Mental Health Program Manager at Dollo Ado’s refugee camp.

When Esubalew arrived with International Medical Corps in South Sudan, there was an “extreme lack of services,” he said. Most of the mental health cases in the country were referred to one hospital in Juba, which had only an 11-bed capacity. To fill the gap, International Medical Corps and Esubalew recruited refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) as volunteers to spread awareness of mental health issues and the services available to those in need, and began training health workers to strengthen their capacity to provide mental health care.

Today, International Medical Corps is supporting seven health facilities in South Sudan– two hospitals and five primary healthcare centers —and we have integrated mental health into all of them. Esubalew reports a significant improvement in the coordination and mapping of services countrywide over the past four years due to International Medical Corps’ interventions. He is currently co-chairing the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services (MHPSS) Working Group at the national level in Juba. For Esubalew, it is important that mental health workers in South Sudan be future leaders in the country.

With Esubalew support, 853 individuals enrolled in International Medical Corps’ mental health program in 2017 alone. Still, with hardly any practicing psychiatrists in the country, the need for comprehensive mental health services in South Sudan is urgent, and Esubalew and International Medical Corps remain on the ground to ensure that vulnerable individuals and families in South Sudan have access to the mental health and psychosocial care they need.

We thank the GlobalGiving Community for their continued support of International Medical Corps as we serve vulnerable families in South Sudan. For more information about our work, please see https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/country/south-sudan/