The medical organization, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), says it has launched mobile clinics to provide primary healthcare services to returnees in the northern states.
Thousands of returnees have been trickling in from the Sudan since the conflict erupted on April 15, 2023.
Some of the states that have witnessed influx of both returnees and Sudanese refugees include Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile.
The humanitarian organization reports that some of the new arrivals are stranded at transit centers in Renk in RAA and are in dire need of shelter, water, sanitation and food.
“An overstretched healthcare system and limited humanitarian response cannot absorb additional needs. A larger coordinated effort by the humanitarian actors is critical to address the needs of those arriving from Sudan,” Jocelyn Yapi, MSF head of mission in South Sudan, says in a statement extended to TRC.
As an emergency response, the aid group set up mobile clinics at Zero and Riverside transit centers in Renk town.
“Our teams are conducting around 110 medical consultations daily, treating patients suffering from acute watery diarrhea, respiratory tract Infections, eye infections, malaria and other diseases. The poor shelter, water and sanitation situation has also put these people at risk of disease outbreaks,” Yapi stated.
In Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, MSF has opened a healthcare center at Wedwill refugee camp to offer healthcare services to the refugees and returnees.
The clinic, it says, also provides consultation for the host communities. During the first week of services, around 500 people sought medical consultations from the mobile clinic; 60% of which were refugees
According to United Nations, over 110,000 people so far have fled the conflict in Sudan and sought refuge in South Sudan. Renk town in Upper Nile state has received around 75 per cent of these returnees and refugees.