Health experts and government authorities in South Sudan’s Warrap State have called for increased efforts and new innovative approaches to combat high maternal and infant mortality rates through the promotion of preventative care. According to a report by the United Nation Children’s fund (UNICEF), an estimated 6 million people in South Sudan lacks pit latrines and defecate in the open spaces. Open defecation is a major contributing factor to myriad of water and sanitation related diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid, polio, cholera, acute respiratory infection amongst others.

Source: Sudan Tribune, 19th August 2012