On World Polio Day we observe that historical outbreaks and ongoing transmission leave South Sudan’s citizens vulnerable to the debilitating polio virus.  For two decades the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has supported the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in South Sudan, providing $46 million to detect and interrupt transmission through intensive community and environmental surveillance, outbreak investigation and response.  USAID also delivered polio vaccines as part of a broader vaccine preventable disease control.  Polio campaigns funded by the United States and other donors have helped to keep the virus in check.

While cross-border conflict has contributed to continued polio transmission in the country, many root causes of polio and other disease outbreaks are exacerbated by the inaction of South Sudanese leaders.  Failure to pay health worker salaries and decades-long dependence on donors to deliver basic healthcare are factors leading to continued disease outbreaks.  We call on the South Sudan Transitional Government to respond to the needs of the South Sudanese people by using public revenue transparently to vaccinate children against polio and other preventable diseases.