Over 100 Health Experts from South Sudan and Uganda Meet in Gulu for Cross-Border Health Collaboration
By Kidega Livingstone
Gulu City, Northern Uganda — More than one hundred health experts from South Sudan and Uganda convened in Gulu on Wednesday to discuss pressing cross-border public health challenges.
Organized with support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), participants including epidemiologists, surveillance officers, and laboratory technicians aimed to identify critical gaps in cross-border health collaboration.
The meeting arrives amid heightened concern over recurrent outbreaks of communicable diseases such as cholera, measles, mpox, malaria, and Ebola, which affect vulnerable communities across the Uganda–South Sudan border. Other threats identified include sleeping sickness and the potential spread of Sudan Virus Disease, exacerbated by porous border movement.
Notably, both countries have recently committed to strengthening coordinated surveillance and response systems. A trilateral agreement including Uganda, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo was signed in Gulu (July 2–4) to boost surveillance, joint planning, information-sharing, and monitoring of formal and informal points of entry.
Additionally, South Sudan has reactivated an Infectious Disease Unit (IDU) at Nimule, a strategic border post, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO). The 15-bed facility aims to enhance early detection, screening, and response capacity to infectious diseases including mpox, Ebola, and cholera.
