The overarching goal of the USAID/OTI Sudan program is to strengthen Sudanese confidence and capacity to address the causes and consequences of political marginalization, violence, and instability within the context of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan.
The OTI/Sudan program focuses on promoting the emergence of responsive and effective civil authorities; providing opportunities for peaceful dialogue within and among communities; fostering the emergence of an active civil society; increasing the availability of quality, independent information; and protecting vulnerable populations from grave human rights violations and related abuses.
Juba is the capital of Southern Sudan, and the impact of the country's two-decades-long civil war is very visible there. The city has virtually no running water or electrical grid, and many public- service institutions are in dire need of rehabilitation.
The Juba Teaching Hospital is an example of the steady dedication of a handful of Sudanese health-care professionals who have struggled to sustain the services provided by the hospital, despite the damage caused to the facility and disruptions to the supply of medicines during the war.
The hospital has an in-patient capacity of 500. It also serves as a nursing technical secondary school, midwife training school, and a training facility for medical assistants. While the civil war in Sudan has ended, the hospital is still struggling to meet a rising demand for medical care among Juba residents and those residing in the surrounding areas.
More than 1,500 patients are treated every month by professionals in internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, dentistry, ophthalmology, psychiatry and physiotherapy. The cramped emergency ward, too small to provide adequate space and shelter for the continuous flow of patients, was in critical need of improvement. The U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Transition Initiatives provided support to the Directorate of the Ministry of Housing and Construction to expand the facility. Patients will no longer have to endure needlessly long waits before they are treated, and triage and minor treatments will take place indoors, in a safer and more hygienic environment.
For further information, please contact: In Washington, D.C: Michele Amatangelo, Program Manager, Tel: (202) 712-4275, mamatangelo@usaid.gov