(NIMULE, EASTERN EQUATORIA) – Health workers, local chiefs and security officers in the border town of Nimule have joined a new campaign to stop Ebola crossing into South Sudan, as a national aid group began community training in the busy trading hub this week. Hope Restoration South Sudan held an inception workshop on 23 June 2026 to equip residents and officials with the knowledge needed to prevent the spread of the viral disease through one of the country’s busiest entry points.
The workshop brought together health officials, community leaders including chiefs, youth and women’s representatives, and personnel from security agencies. The sessions focused on health education and on planning mass awareness activities across Nimule Municipal Council. The aim is to reach the people who live and work along the border, where the daily movement of traders, travellers and goods between South Sudan and Uganda creates a steady flow of human contact that can carry health risks in both directions.
Nimule’s position on the main road linking Juba to northern Uganda makes it a critical location for disease surveillance, screening and community sensitisation. Any public health threat that reaches this crossing point has the potential to travel quickly to the capital and beyond. For this reason, the work of organisations like Hope Restoration South Sudan is seen by local authorities as a direct contribution to national health security.
Mayor Caesar Longa Fuli welcomed the organisation’s partnership with the municipal government, saying that joint efforts between civil society and the state are needed to fight the possible spread of Ebola into South Sudan. The mayor’s remarks signal the importance that local government places on keeping the border area safe, not only for residents but also for the many small scale traders whose livelihoods depend on the open movement of people and goods.
The workshop follows a formal partnership agreed earlier in the week between Hope Restoration South Sudan and the Nimule Municipal Council. Under that arrangement, the organisation committed to strengthening Ebola prevention campaigns in the border area. Working with local authorities and community structures, the group supports early detection, risk communication and preparedness measures. These are designed to protect both the cross border trading community and the wider population living in and around Nimule.
The work in Nimule sits within a wider national effort to guard against Ebola and other infectious diseases. In Juba, the National Public Health Institute, together with the International Organisation for Migration, has been running training for port health and One Health sector staff at Juba International Airport.
That training, part of the Ebola preparedness and readiness initiative, covers screening of arriving passengers, safe referral procedures, infection prevention and control, sample management and transport, and risk communication and community engagement. Officials have said that improving these skills at the main aviation gateway will make a significant contribution to national health security.
Meanwhile, the national health leadership continues to press for a large increase in government health spending. At a recent Annual Ministerial Advisory Board meeting in Juba, state health ministers called for the health budget to rise from its current level of around 1.4 percent of national spending towards the 15 percent Abuja Declaration target.