Our charity work in South Sudan

We’re working with South Sudan’s ministry of health to deliver vital charity work that protects people from trachoma and river blindness.

South Sudan is Africa’s newest nation: it gained independence from Sudan in 2011.

South Sudan is one of the world’s least developed countries and ranks lowest on the Human Development Index. Although the South Sudanese government aims to introduce good-quality health care for everyone, ongoing conflict has put a strain on the country’s fragile health care system, which lacks essential resources.

Five neglected tropical diseases are endemic in South Sudan. Sightsavers’ work in the country focuses on protecting people from trachoma and river blindness, which can cause sight loss and disability.

Sightsavers is helping South Sudan’s ministry of health to distribute medication that stops river blindness from spreading. In 2018 we helped to give out more than 546,000 doses of medication, and trained 5,100 volunteers in local communities, who deliver medication to people in remote areas.

More than a million people in South Sudan are thought to have vision loss

In 2014, there were just five ophthalmologists in the country

8.7 million people in the country need treatment for river blindness

Sources: IAPB, ESPEN

How you can help

Our charity work in South Sudan is helping to protect people from trachoma and river blindness, but there’s still more we need to do to reach everyone.

With your support, we want to expand our treatment campaigns to other areas of the country where these diseases are putting millions of people at risk of blindness and disability. To do this, we need your help.

Charity donations, legacies, corporate partnerships and gifts from charitable foundations are a vital source of funding for our work in South Sudan. We also welcome opportunities to work in partnership with governments, institutions and development organisations.

Contact us: If you have any questions about our work in South Sudan, would like more details about our programmes or wish to discuss ways you can donate or support us, email [email protected]