South Sudan closes schools due to extreme heat
South Sudan has announced the closure of all schools in the country for an indefinite period due to the extreme heat in the past few days.
Yolanda Awel Deng, the Minister of Health, has said that many parts of South Sudan are facing a heat wave that is expected to last for at least two weeks where the temperature will be between 41 and 45 degrees Celsius .
According to information published on Sunday, Awel has told journalists in Juba, the capital of South Sudan that the government has decided to take the following steps, one, to close all schools from March 18, secondly, when the schools are closed, parents are advised to prevent their children from playing outside for long periods of time and also monitor children, especially young people, for signs of heat exhaustion and stroke."
He has said that heat waves can greatly affect the population in a short period of time, often causing public health emergencies and many deaths and thus raising social and economic problems such as people losing the ability to work and health centers facing a large number of patients.
Awel has said that the disease investigation department of his ministry has set up a system to detect and treat health problems caused by extreme heat, as there are already cases of deaths related to extreme heat being reported in the country .
Joseph Africano Bartel, deputy secretary of the Environment in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, has said that climate change is an international problem that South Sudan is also facing.
He has advised schools to make sure they have good ventilation, install solar panels so they can have working fans, and also make sure trees are planted.
Africano has called on developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are the cause of global warming, while warning that South Sudan will soon experience the unusual effects of climate change, including heavy rains, floods, extreme heat and drought .
