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Case Study: Life-Saving Cholera Response in South Sudan with CMMB
Overview: Emergency WASH Supply for South Sudan’s Cholera Outbreak
In late 2024, South Sudan declared a cholera outbreak that rapidly spread across multiple states, fuelled by mass displacement from Sudan, seasonal flooding, and severely compromised water and sanitation infrastructure. By early 2025, over 96,000 cases had been recorded nationally, with Juba County and Renk County among the hardest-hit locations.
In response, Specialized Logistics Solutions (SLS), in partnership with Butyl Products UK, supplied and delivered over 3.28 million P&G Purifier of Water sachets to support the cholera response programmes of the Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) and the African Community Health Organization (ACHO). This case study details the outbreak context, the SLS logistics operation, the distribution results, and the community health impact of the P&G Purifier of Water deployment.
Cholera Outbreak: Juba and Renk Counties, South Sudan
South Sudan’s cholera outbreak was declared on 28 October 2024, with the first cases imported from neighbouring Sudan where over 50,000 cases had already been recorded.
The disease spread rapidly through displacement corridors — particularly in Renk County (Upper Nile State), where over 880,000 people had fled Sudan since April 2023, overwhelming local water and sanitation capacity.
In Juba County (Central Equatoria State), a population of approximately 526,000 recorded 7,326 cholera cases and 98 deaths. Renk County, with over 188,564 households including large numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons, became a critical focus of the emergency response. The combination of overcrowding, contaminated water sources, open defecation, and a weakened health system created conditions where cholera transmission was rapid and conventional water supply interventions were insufficient.
Household-level water treatment with P&G Purifier of Water sachets became a frontline intervention — providing families with the ability to produce safe drinking water from the highly turbid, contaminated sources available in both counties.
P&G Purifier of Water Distribution: Key Results
Location | Households reached | Boxes of P&G Purifier of Water | Amount of Sachets |
|---|---|---|---|
Renk South Payam | 4,520 | 2,260 | 542,400 |
Gerger Payam | 6,264 | 3,132 | 751,680 |
Renk County | 10,784 | 2,260 | 542,400 |
Juba County | 12,036 | 6,018 | 1,444,320 |
TOTAL: 27,344 households reached | 13,670 boxes | 3,280,800 sachets delivered
Each household received 120 P&G Purifier of Water sachets, providing treatment capacity for 1,200 litres of safe drinking water per family — equivalent to approximately 40 days of safe water supply for a household of five at the Sphere minimum standard of 7.5 litres per person per day.
How SLS Delivered: End-to-End WASH Logistics for the Cholera Response
SLS managed the complete supply chain for the P&G Purifier of Water deployment, from international procurement through to last-mile delivery in two of South Sudan’s most challenging operating environments.
The operation involved: procurement of P&G Purifier of Water sachets through SLS’s authorised distribution partnership with Butyl Products UK, international freight management from the manufacturer to East Africa, import clearance and customs processing in South Sudan, consolidated warehousing at SLS facilities in Juba, overland transport to Renk County in Upper Nile State — a remote location near the Sudan border with severely limited road access, particularly during the rainy season, and coordination with ACHO and CMMB field teams for door-to-door household distribution.
SLS’s in-country presence in Juba, pre-existing logistics infrastructure, and experience operating in South Sudan’s access-constrained environment were decisive factors in delivering this volume of WASH supplies within the required timelines.
Organisations ordering P&G sachets from international suppliers without a local logistics partner face weeks of additional delay for customs clearance and onward transport to field locations.
Impact: Safe Water Access, Health Outcomes, and Community Resilience
1
Increased Access to Safe Drinking Water
Door-to-door distributions provided each of the 27,344 reached households with 120 P&G Purifier of Water sachets and clear instructions for the two-step treatment process (flocculation + disinfection). For many families in Renk and Juba, this was their first access to a water treatment method capable of handling the highly turbid floodwater and contaminated surface water that served as their primary water source.
2
Reduced Cholera Transmission at Household Level
Communities in distribution areas reported significant reductions in cholera symptoms and waterborne disease incidence following the P&G Purifier of Water rollout. P&G sachets are one of the few household water treatment products that combine flocculation (removing visible contamination and sediment) with chlorine disinfection, making them effective against Vibrio cholerae even in the most contaminated water sources.
3
Strengthened Community Health Capacity
The distribution programme enabled ACHO and CMMB community health workers to conduct real-time water purification demonstrations at the household level, building practical understanding of safe water treatment that will persist beyond the immediate cholera response. This behaviour-change component is critical for long-term cholera prevention in communities where unsafe water practices are endemic.
Why Organisations Choose SLS for Emergency WASH Procurement in South Sudan
This cholera response deployment illustrates why UN agencies, international NGOs, and implementing partners choose SLS for emergency WASH supply in East and Central Africa. SLS is the exclusive distributor for P&G Purifier of Water and Aquatabs in South Sudan, and the authorised regional distributor for Butyl Products’ full WASH equipment portfolio.
This means a single procurement source for water purification products, Oxfam storage tanks, flexible bladders, and water testing kits — backed by in-country logistics, customs expertise, warehousing, and last-mile delivery to field sites across South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, and the DRC.
For organisations planning cholera preparedness, flood season WASH responses, or ongoing water treatment programmes, SLS delivers the product availability, logistics reliability, and regional presence that this kind of deployment requires.