At least three people, including two children, have died in Kediba Payam, Greater Mundri, of Western Equatoria State following a total breakdown of health services amid worsening insecurity and neglect.
The officer in charge of Kediba Primary Health Care Centre, Gibson Mamuru, told Amadi FM that the facility has gone for weeks without essential drugs or medical supplies.
The situation, he said, has left health workers helpless as preventable illnesses claim lives.
“We have no medicines, no equipment, nothing even our solar panels and doors were looted during the clashes between the SSPDF and SPLM-IO. The centre is just a building with no life-saving tools,” Mamuru said.
Among the victims were two children who reportedly died of anemia, deaths that have since been reported to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Mamuru now refers all patients to Lui Hospital, several kilometers away a journey many sick residents cannot make.
Local residents say the tragedy is a wake-up call for authorities and humanitarian agencies to act.
The Support for Peace and Education Development Program (SPEDP), which operates in other parts of Greater Mundri, has been unable to access Kediba due to ongoing insecurity.
Community leaders and civil society advocates are appealing to the government, NGOs, and health partners to urgently intervene before more lives are lost.
