The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded IntraHealth International a new four-year, $17.3 million project—Strengthening Systems, Capacity & Data Collection with a Focus on Strategic Information in South Sudan under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Soon, IntraHealth and its partner RTI International will be working with South Sudan’s Ministry of Health and the National Bureau of Statistics to build strong HIV strategic information and health workforce systems in South Sudan.

South Sudan is still emerging from the effects of 50 years of civil war, which finally ended in 2005. More than 2 million people in Sudan and South Sudan died from starvation and drought, and over 4 million people were displaced from their homes. The country’s infrastructure and health services were destroyed, too.

The health situation in South Sudan remains dire: the country currently has the highest maternal mortality rate and one of the highest child mortality rates in the world.¹ Dependable information about HIV in South Sudan is scarce, so no one knows yet just how prevalent the virus is in the general population. According to data from antenatal care services, about 3.1% of the population is infected. But the rate is much higher in some areas—15.5% at a surveillance site in Yambio, for example.

And the situation is unlikely to improve until health officials have access to reliable data about HIV and other health issues.

“This new project will be a source of dependable information for South Sudan,” said Anne Kinuthia, country representative and project leader. “It will generate unbiased, country-wide data that represent the HIV trend in the country and strengthen the capacity of the government through training, mentoring, and collaboration.”

Through surveillance activities, monitoring and evaluating existing programs, developing human resources and other systems, and providing technical assistance and training to the South Sudan Ministry of Health, US Government partners, and other stakeholders, IntraHealth will help lay the foundation for future public health activities in South Sudan and improve current interventions.

As part of the project, IntraHealth will help South Sudan’s Ministry of Health to design a national HIV case-reporting system, and to develop a system that will allow clinicians to track HIV patients’ treatment status within each health facility. The data will help stakeholders find ways to prevent new infections and improve care for people living with HIV.

Strategic information activities, such as monitoring the HIV/AIDS epidemic through surveillance, will inform the response of the CDC, the Ministry of Health, and others who work to resolve South Sudan’s HIV/AIDS epidemic.

IntraHealth will also help prepare the Government of South Sudan to regularly generate, collect, manage, and analyze high-quality data about HIV and other health issues. The government can then use the data to inform its policies and make decisions about how to best manage its resources and programs in its national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

1. For every 100,000 live births, 2,054 mothers die because of complications. Out of every 1,000 live births, 102 babies die.