Healthcare

Primary Healthcare in South Sudan

South Sudan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world with close to 1 in 100 mothers dying in pregnancy or childbirth. Whilst 1 in 10 children die before the age of five.

One of the biggest reasons for this is a lack of trained health professionals. There is only one doctor per 66,000 people in South Sudan and only one midwife per 17,000.

For the last ten years AID has supported the efforts of Indian missionary doctors, Anil and Shalini CHerian, at the Jonglei Health Sciences Institute. Their work in Bor, South Sudan, to train up midwives and health visitors has had a big impact on the numbers of South Sudanese health visitors working in the country.

The JHSI has now been handed over to local control and our efforts have shifted to supporting graduates of the Institute as they provide essential and life-saving healthcare in vulnerable communities in South Sudan.

Drs Anil and Shalini Cherian outside the JHSI

Tar Agok Clinic, Bor 

AID supports the Tar Agok Clinic in South Sudan north of the capital, Juba, on the White Nile. Staffed by two mid-wives and one clinical officer who were trained at the JHSI it provides essential healthcare support,including vital perinatal care, in an area without immediate access to other trained healthcare professionals and affordable medicines.

Bor is a challenging environment: internet access is patchy, destructive floods hit in 2020 and teaching facilities are basic. According to the World Health Organization, Jonglei State is especially under-resourced for medical services.

Rokon clinic, South Sudan 

In 2025, Bishop Emmanuel of Rokon reached out for urgent help. The town’s only healthcare facility was on the brink of collapse after USAID funding cuts. Staff were unpaid, medicines and supplies had run out, and surgeries were being performed under the light of a mobile phone in a building without a roof. 

Thanks to AID’s support, the roof has now been repaired, solar panels installed to restore electricity, and fundraising is underway to sustain the clinic for the next year—until the local community is able to rebuild.

Could you or your church support one of these clinics?

These two small clinics are a lifeline for hundreds of families and we can only support them thanks to the generosity of donors and trusts. 

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