Nine-month-old Nivin unexpectedly fell ill. Constant fevers and convulsions made her too weak to sit or stand. Nivin’s mother, Flora, rushed her to the nearest children’s hospital in Juba. After a month of care, Nivin left the hospital paralyzed from the waist down; she would never walk again.
Nivin had contracted polio, a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and infects the spinal cord, which can lead to paralysis. “I was studying in Sudan, but my family was in Southern Sudan, so I was on the move most of the time and missed my child’s immunization schedule,” says Flora, recounting her traumatic experience.
By Nivin’s second birthday, Flora’s husband left, unable to cope with Nivin’s condition and leaving Flora to care for her daughter alone. “I was depressed that my husband left me to fend for myself and take care of our child. I was heartbroken and had so many regrets; but, with time, I healed and moved on with the support of my family,” she says. “I had to move her around, feed her, change her clothes, and play with her. She was lonely.” Nivin later received a wheelchair from the hospital.
Flora Alfonse (right), a 34-year-old mother of three, poses with her daughters Nivin (middle) 14, a polio survivor, and Sarah (left) 3 at their home in Hai-Baraka, Juba County, Central Equatoria State.
Jemima Tumalu
Flora remarried and had two children. “These children came with more blessings and lifted off my worries. I can now run around in the house and even go to the market without worrying about Nivin. My husband is supportive, too,” she said.
With Nivin’s heart-wrenching experience seared into her mind more than a decade later, Flora has promised herself that all her children will receive their vaccinations on time with support from the CORE Group Partners Project. The project’s immunization campaigns remind her that being vigilant about children's health, especially the health of disabled children, can have life-changing consequences. Today, Nivin is 14 and, while she relies on her wheelchair for mobility, she and her siblings are full of life.
USAID’s CORE Group Partners Project is a multi-country, multi-partner initiative that provides financial and technical support to strengthen efforts to eradicate polio, strengthen surveillance of diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, and control the spread of COVID-19. Between January and March 2024 the project helped vaccinate nearly 20,000 South Sudanese children against polio virus. Assistance provided by groups like CORE would not be necessary in South Sudan if the transitional government fulfilled its role as a steward of national resources and used public revenue transparently for public needs.
For more information on USAID's work in health, please visit our Health page.