SPLM SG dismisses concerns over health funding cuts, cites local resilience

2026-03-13 - 08:27

JUBA, South Sudan (Eye Radio) – The Secretary General of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Dr. Akol Paul Kordit, has pushed back against international concerns regarding the withdrawal of healthcare funding in South Sudan, suggesting that the country’s history of self-reliance will sustain its people. Speaking to party delegates in Juba on Thursday, March 12, Dr. Akol recounted a recent conversation with an international official regarding the potential closure of rural clinics. He used a personal anecdote from the liberation struggle to illustrate his stance on the matter. “I was meeting somebody very important yesterday, from those big international persons, and we shared a concern that now that they are no longer paying for our health system in our hospitals, our hospital will be closing [in] the villages,” Akol stated. “I responded by saying that in 1998, in a place called Madubai near Meridi—that’s [a] village called Madubai—I had a very bad case of malaria, and I was vomiting that yellow material that comes out. An old woman referred me to a small tree that has bitter roots, which I should chew the roots to get malaria away. I chewed the roots and the malaria went away.” I told that person: let the hospital close down. The closure of the hospital itself is an achievement to us because we never had a hospital before. We are going nowhere; we will be here.” The statement comes at a time when several international NGOs and donor agencies have scaled back health subsidies in South Sudan, citing global budget shifts. While health advocates have warned that such closures could lead to a rise in preventable deaths, Dr. Akol’s remarks centered on a “bitter roots” philosophy—arguing that the resilience developed during years of conflict remains the nation’s backbone. The Secretary General maintained that the party remains committed to the country’s future, regardless of the presence of foreign-funded infrastructure. “We are going nowhere,” he told the crowd, “we will be here.” In January, the Ministry of Health announced the termination of support to more than one hundred health facilities across the country under a World Bank-funded initiative, citing funding shortages. In a letter dated January 13 and seen by Eye Radio, the Minister of Health, Sarah Cleto Rial, informed state governors and chief administrators of scale-down measures aimed at keeping the World Bank-supported Health Sector Transformation Project (HSTP) financially viable until June 2027. The letter said the decision followed a comprehensive review of the project’s financial position and consultations with key stakeholders, including State Ministries of Health, development partners and United Nations agencies such as UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the Ministry, the measures include the discontinuation of HSTP support to 102 health facilities nationwide. Support to six hospitals will also be reduced, effectively downgrading them to lower service levels, alongside a gradual reduction in incentives for health workers. Other measures include cuts to operational costs and a scale-down of in-service training for health workers.