Use of mobile medical teams to fill critical gaps in health service delivery in complex humanitarian settings, 2017-2020: a case study of South Sudan

The vulnerable populations in the protracted humanitarian crisis in South Sudan are faced with constrained access to health services and frequent disease outbreaks. Here, we describe the experiences of emergency mobile medical teams (eMMT) assembled by the World Health Organization (WHO) South Sudan to respond to public health emergencies. Interventions: the eMMTs, multidisciplinary teams based at national, state and county levels, are rapidly deployed to conduct rapid assessments, outbreak investigations, and initiate public health response during acute emergencies. The eMMTs were deployed to locations affected by flooding, conflicts, famine, and disease outbreaks. We reviewed records of deployment reports, outreach and campaign registers, and analyzed the key achievements of the eMMTs for 2017 through 2020. Achievements: the eMMTs investigated disease outbreaks including cholera, measles, Rift Valley fever and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in 13 counties, conducted mobile outreaches in emergency locations in 38 counties (320,988 consultations conducted), trained 550 healthcare workers including rapid response teams, and supported reactive measles vaccination campaigns in seven counties [148,726, (72-125%) under-5-year-old children vaccinated] and reactive oral cholera vaccination campaigns in four counties (355,790 vaccinated). The eMMT is relevant in humanitarian settings and can reduce excess morbidity and mortality and fill gaps that routine health facilities and health partners could not bridge. However, the scope of the services offered needs to be broadened to include mental and psychosocial care and a strategy for ensuring continuity of vaccination services and management of chronic conditions after the mobile outreach is instituted.