South Sudan
Landlocked East African state; borders DRC and Uganda; disease-surveillance corridor for Ituri outbreak.
South Sudan has no confirmed Ebola case, yet the United States barred its nationals from May to June 2026, and on 27 September Africa CDC still named it among ten countries at risk as DR Congo's epidemic spreads.
Last refreshed: 4 October 2026 · Appears in 2 active topics
Could the Ituri Bundibugyo outbreak reach South Sudan through cross-border displacement routes?
Timeline for South Sudan
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South Sudan sits on the EDGE of the DR Congo Ebola epidemic without a case of its own. On 27 September 2026 Africa CDC's Jean Kaseya named it among ten countries at risk, alongside Kenya, Angola, the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo. It is also a Cholera hotspot: in 2025 it was one of seven countries that together carried about 90% of the world's reported cholera cases and deaths.
The country is a landlocked East African state that gained independence in 2011, with about 12 million people and a capital at Juba. Its western border meets DR Congo's Ituri Province and its southern border meets Uganda. It hosts an estimated 2.3 million internally displaced people and takes in continuing arrivals from conflict in DR Congo, through areas with little formal health surveillance.
South Sudan has no Ebola treatment unit network and depends on WHO's Africa office and partners such as MSF for surge response. Malaria is endemic, and a 2024-25 Cholera outbreak strained the same disease-control services that would have to meet any Ebola incursion.
Its nationals were barred without a case
The United States barred entry to nationals of DR Congo, Uganda and South Sudan on 18 May 2026, green-card holders included, although South Sudan had no confirmed Bundibugyo case. Africa CDC opposed the ban the next day, and the IHR Emergency Committee advised against travel restrictions on 22 May. Including South Sudan followed political risk, not case counts.
The US Centers for Disease Control renewed the 30-day ban on 21 June. Three days later the first Ebola case confirmed outside Africa was a French doctor, whom the ban would not have stopped. South Sudan still had no confirmed cases, and its nationals carried the cost of a measure aimed at its neighbours.