TED Talks Daily - The doctor on a mission to build a healthier South Sudan | Yohanis Riek

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

Yohanis Riek went from herding cattle and fighting as a child soldier to becoming the first doctor in his community in South Sudan. He shares his journey to found a nonprofit bringing health care to remote communities — empowering locals to take charge of their own health, as the world's newest country finds its place in the world.(Following the talk, Lily James Olds, director of the TED Fellows program, interviews Riek on the effect of USAID withdrawal in South Sudan and why he’s choosing to stay in his home country to better serve local populations.)Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. Today's talk is part of our TED Fellows film series adapted for podcasts just for our TED Talks Daily listeners. We'll be releasing these special episodes showcasing our impressive fellows on certain Fridays throughout the year. The TED Fellows program supports a network of global innovators, and we're so excited to share their work with you. Today we'd like you to meet physician and social entrepreneur Johannes Reich. What if the people of the world's newest nation shaped their own health care future? Johannes, who went from herding cattle and fighting as a child soldier,

to becoming the first doctor in his community in South Sudan, shares how he founded YoCare, a nonprofit that brings primary care to remote communities, empowering locals to take charge of their own health. And after we hear from Johannes, stick around for a deep dive conversation with Ted Fellows program director, Lily James Olds. That's coming up. I'm Johannes Riab. I'm a doctor and a social entrepreneur based and working in South Sudan. When I was growing up in my belief, my future was to be a cattle keeper.

Through being someone mobile, the nomadic culture, we became adaptive to other neoculture that we learn as we migrate. And that experience enabled me to connect with a lot of other people. And so the future keep changing based on the new life I was experiencing. The future was, you know, to be someone successful, someone who can be able to help back the community. But when I was around 14 or 15 years, I don't know exact age, but by estimation at that time, I was conscripted into the army, forcefully.

And that's how I become a shaltzodia. The course of that civil war was being failed by everybody. So the regional neighbors decided to bring the two warring parties together for a negotiation. We led to the peace agreement in 2005, and that was supported by the United States government. And I was sponsored by the government to go to school. When the negotiation they started, the first thing first was to demobilize child soldiers from the army. and the immediate activities to do after the demobilization were go to school. The first immediate motivation for me to become a doctor was seeing my family members die

because of the disease that could be treated, my dad, particularly my sister, which was young at the time, you know, motivated me when I learned about school to study something that can help fight the disease burden in my community. I was the first to go to school in my family, and also the first to go to school in my family, and also the first to become a doctor. And not only my immediate family, but in my community. 2009 was my first year at university, and that's when I also started my non-profit organization called YoCare Sa Sudan.

Yorker South Sudan is a non-profit health care organization that is focused on infectious disease control and management, as well as the primary care part of the health system, through static health facilities, and also through mobile medical team that go to communities that are far away from our health facilities, where the gap are huge and people continue to die every day. For the last 17 years, we have many successes.

We are proud that we have saved life. When we vaccinate children, children are able to go to school and they are able to become an important member of the society. There are children that have gone to school now. If we did not do that vaccination, maybe they would have died from those childhood diseases. that are preventable. We understand that as an organization, we cannot be able to do everything by ourselves.

So we help the community organize themselves. The people who come to our health facilities, we train them. Many patients that we have served became service providers themselves. One of our patients called Lillian, later on became a peer navigator. Now you're able to identify people

who are also suffering and repairing them to the health centers. centers for them to come for testing and also to come to get their medication, as well as delivering the training, delivering medical services to the people who cannot access medical facilities. People must be able to take charge of their own health. Actually, our name, EOCare, means the care we provide is yours. Wherever we work, we organize the community, we train them, so they can take charge of the PEOCHA.

The U-care focus on long-term health solution, because we understand that health is not just an immediate need, it's a long-term need. And because of that, some of the solutions will provide have been funded by external donors, such as USAID or US government. And when the current US government came into power, we got an abrupt notification.

Tomorrow, we suspend all activities. So that had the immediate effect on us. The first immediate defect was on the patient. Before this happened, we have more than 60,000 people that were relying on our medical services. As of now, we are supporting 32,000. Thousands of communities are not able to access basic healthcare services. And also from having heads health facilities that we were directly supporting, to only two facilities right now that we are supporting.

Our main power reduced from 53 to only aid essential staff. Now when that suddenly cut, they harass us. Where do we go? Where do we go? Patient. Arrows were asking us, where do we go? Why did you cut this? It didn't allow us time to prefer to close.

It didn't allow us time to look for other financing alternative. That threatened the very existence of the organization. The most important thing to invest in is the people. There is no country without people in the first place. We are the youngest nation in the world right now. In 2011, South Sudan became an independent country, given that it's not part of that global community yet in terms of technology, in terms of media,

in terms of other connectedness. We feel neglected. We have an outgoing conflict. We have natural climate issues. Our voices are not being hard. My hope for the future, first as a doctor, is a healthy society. And that is what we are working for. Because when the community is stable, when the society is stable,

we will contribute meaningfully to the world. And people will know how to positive things instead of being known for conflict and suffering. Having a new country is just like when you have a new home. You just bought your new house. We are very excited, you are very happy. We finally have something you can call home. And that is the experience that we have as a nation.

Even if we are in crisis, or trapped crisis, persistent crisis, we are very happy that. Personally, I'm very proud that I have a country. Because I believe one day, through the contribution I'm making or through the contribution of others, we will be better despite the challenges we are currently facing. And now a special conversation between Johannes Reich and Ted Fellows program director Lily James Olds. Johannes speaks with Lily about why it's so vital to have

locally led healthcare solutions in fragile and conflict-affected settings, how his organization managed to survive and even thrive when faced with the abrupt loss of USAID funding in 2025 and why their work in South Sudan is a model for how to rebuild trust, save lives, and reshape global health care from the ground up. Hi, Johannes. Welcome. Thank you, Lily. You've had, such an amazing journey, which you talk about. Could you give us a brief overview of what the healthcare system in South Sudan looks like today and then how your organization, YoCare, fits into this? South Sudan got independent in 2011, making it one of the youngest nation on the continent. And as a result of that, the independent was achieved after a very prolonged period

of war, civil wars, which led to a loss of life, properties, and system. So as of today, South Sudan health care system is still very young, and many areas still have no hospitals, and still many have very few trans health care workers, and that is to say, from nurses to doctors. And as a result of that, our people still experience very limited access to essential medical services and medical personnel lack of medicine, such as vaccine. So this means that preventable diseases that are currently in other part of the continent have been prevented or are no longer existing, such as malaria, diarrhoal diseases, and complications during childbirth can still become deadly in South Sudan.

Myself, I have experienced this lack of medical services, and now giving it. the little knowledge I have about healthcare, so that's why I step in to create Yorkshire South Sudan. When I was in my first year of medical school to fill this gap, and basically what we provide under Yorker South Sudan is to focus on the primary health care services, because as I mentioned, South Sudan is a new country, so this means majority of the areas have not yet a period or have not yet at a government service in place. So most of them relies on work of community members to be able to access the healthcare services.

And this approach, you know, we designed it to be locally home and be sustainable in a way that communities are partners to us and not just people who will receive the services that will be providing. Yeah, and I know that, you know, you had mentioned that at one point

you all were serving over 60,000 people, focusing on this infectious disease control, primary care, just very basic necessary services for people that didn't have them. You mentioned that the name YoCare means the care we provide is yours, which I really love, and that it reflects your belief that communities need to take ownership of their own health. Why was this philosophy important to you from the very beginning? Yes, from the very start, I believe that healthcare, solution must belong to the people that need them. So people should not see it as something that is

imposed on them from outside. So they need to understand that if they are suffering from malaria, for example, or diarrheal diseases, they have a right to have access to health services, which they can demand from the government. But in a community that has been affected by war, such as ours in South Sudan, when community gets organized themselves, they can be responsible. for their home health services. This includes, for example, if there are few people who have the chance to have an additional education,

such as myself, I can take advantage of this knowledge and train my own community members who later on can be able to provide medical services on their home, rather than them waiting for a government to be able to do that. So if anybody provides medicine, they should be able to distribute this. If there are vaccine available, they should be able to give this to the children in the community.

You know, you deserve it. And also, you can provide it yourself. Yeah, I love that. People can take for granted that when you think about what is needed to structurally give that kind of care in communities, as you say, it really is about people coming together as a community to support and educate one another. One example that really struck me of that, that you shared the meaningful story of Lily. who went from being a patient with YoCare to working for the organization as a peer navigator and is now training others to do the same. Are there more moments or stories like that that you think really capture what this community-led model has made possible in South Sudan?

Lillian is one of the example of our community-led models. We also have another support group called Mothers to Mothers Support Group, Those mothers that are able to come for bringing their children routinely to our health facilities for vaccination, we're giving them education about the importance of child vaccination against basic killer diseases. And then we give them key messages in local languages, and then they will be able now to take the same model, the same messages to the community. So while they are in the community, they will let other mothers know that, if you take your child to a health center, he is going to benefit from vaccination

and he's more likely not to fall sick and it's more likely to go into school because now it's very healthy and the mother is also more likely to focus on another work because the child now will not be falling sick every now on there. And we have trained 100 of them. So they are the ones who do that on their own. And those are the community-led models

that have successfully worked for us. even most importantly in heart-to-reach areas. Our role as your care is basically facilitating that process of people coming together, of people being able to lead their own health. I know that last year you received abrupt notification from USAID that funding would be suspended almost overnight. It's been an incredibly trying time for you and your organization. And I've really seen that throughout this entire situation, I mean, you've shown remarkable resilience and somehow managed to keep Yo-Care's doors open. Where do things stand now, Johannes, and what does the organization look like today?

What has it taken to survive during these past months? Yeah, this time, I really shalanging time for South Sudan as a country, because 90% of it basic services from health, education, security are provided through non-governmental channels, and that is to say through NGOs. And when we received notification of EASID funding, which was very abrupt, it was a huge challenge, both for us as a decision and also for our communities.

So overnight, we face the risk of closing, you know. But the resilient of our staff, volunteers that we have and the community partners that we have established over a long term, we became adaptive to this situation. So we began to prioritize the most critical services. For example, we stop focusing on infectious diseases. Now we focus on maternal and child services. Making for that, but the nation can continue making for that. Mother, that require nutritional support, because maybe of anemia, you know, are able to get this so they can have a better health outcome for their children and for themselves.

And of course, we mobilize local resources and also through near the global network. And this platform were very instrumental during the USA suspension. So, for example, individual started to contribute to that network. And so Sudan was one of the priority countries. And as a result of that, Yocer was able to benefit from side the platform. and very quick support. So we enabled us to continue with our emergency response that we were being at the border between South Sudan and Sudan

and basically focusing on children and mothers. So that has told us that, yes, financial support is very important, but also a strong relationship, trust and flexibility, the real backbone of any sustainability as an institution and also as a community. I mean, I think it's such an incredible testament, Johan, as to what you've built, the fact that you could lose that kind of funding and still manage through the incredible trust and relationships that you've built. I think I'm curious, given where you sit, to go a little bit deeper in hearing your thoughts on foreign aid. You're in such a unique position to reflect on this, given that due to the U.S. peace agreement and support, you were able to go to school and get training.

but then also that you lost significant support for your organization that really left you guys in a perilous position. So I'd love to hear your take on global collaboration between nations, and particularly those that are more affluent with younger nations like South Sudan. How do you see this relationship? And what do you think it should be structured like? What should the responsibilities do you think be on some of these more established nations versus? younger nations. As someone who has been in the humanitarian space now for close to 20 years,

I believe that external aid itself in the way it is current deliver is not working. Because most of the design of this humanitarian or external aid support have been designed where local communities or maybe a recipient country are not part of the design process.

They only play a role in the recipient part of this. And now the results, they are not understanding that this is for short time and it can go away. And because of this understanding, communities and countries have not been able to be adaptive to time when there is a disruption of such a support as it happened last year. So I truly believe that to empower local communities and maybe country in the global south, you know, partners need to provide support that build capacities, not the current dependency on it that we are seeing now. So this will mean that, you know, we need to have a flexible funding

that is not ebbing any string attached. And this funding must be based on the program of the host country or the host communities. What are the plan? It must not be based on donor priorities. If it is there, it must be there to support ongoing program of the communities. Also, it need to be long-term partnership. so that people can be adaptive, people can learn from it.

Current funding are always one year. In one year, what do you learn in a country that has problems such as South Sudan? To build a health system, take time. If the government can do it overnight, then I believe also a donor cannot do it overnight. So to achieve the sustainable development goals or to contribute to this other country, we need a long-term partnership. And also, of course, mentorship, low-income countries.

or Saddam Saddam itself, they need mentorship because they don't have Experian. Just like all of us, when we want to get the job, someone who has experience might take you through what you need to do, and such a mentorship is very necessary. And of course, focus on local leadership. So most of the funding program have not been focusing on local leadership of the communities or the host country itself. So this means they need to listen to. the communities, they need to understand their priorities, and they need to support solutions

that are defined by the local leadership. In South Sudan, for example, we have local leaders, such as we call them Sultan, sheep. They are very powerful, and community listens to them more than anybody. Community listen to them more than the president. So when you empower these local leaders, and they are the one going back now to their communities, to reorganize their communities, any support is more likely to succeed. And only then can organization, for example, like your care, reach a point where they can stand on their own and continue delivering services,

even if we had external disruption, with drawn or reduce, as we have seen last year. So it sounds like really what you're speaking about is collaboration, right, In the design, in the structure, you just said that it would be long-term, that it would include mentorship, infrastructure support, and really support and education for local leadership. I think that's really fascinating to consider and think about what might that process look like going forward. How could we design it in that kind of capacity? That already existing mechanism for how this can be designed. The implementation is a problem.

So my view has always been that people are already thinking of how to get out of this. Because Africa, as we know, have been through humanitarian support for the last 50 years. And then we are not ready to continue for the next 50 years. If we really need to go through this, very simple. Let us listen to the local gatekeepers of that communities. If you ask me today, Johannes, what are the challenge of South Sudan? and what do you want to do? We will highlight to you our problem

and how we intend to solve it. And then, of course, if you want to support, you have to support along what we think is more sustainable, is resilient to us. And then in this way, we become partner. You become partner in what we, ourselves, want to achieve. The other way also is, system cannot work.

In the long term, most of these basic services are supposed to be provided by the government. So any support, has to be streamlined with what the government is providing. Because in the long term, it can be able to absorb any shock, because the government is there to stay. So I believe that any new program that meant to support low-income country or communities should have a program that is linked closely with the government.

And the government should be strengthening the health system of the government or education system of the government. So in that way, we become a facilitator of how the community can demand for services from the government and can, in the long term, even if we have to provide fulfilling certain gap, then our role here is to make sure that the government understand they are responsible providing these basic services to the community. And the community understand they have the obligation to hold accountable to the government or to demand from the government that these services they need them.

I mean, you've built something really remarkable, Johannes, with YoCare, which is a model of health care in settings where traditional medical infrastructure simply doesn't exist and where communities can really take ownership of their own health. I'm curious, what lessons do you hope other health care organizations, especially those working in crisis or resource-limited settings, might take from your approach and journey? For the last 17 years now, I've been working in a resource limited setting,

in conflict, in humanitarian and in the health sector. This has taught me that a solution must be locally let and they might be adaptable and resilient because a solution that will drone when problem becomes more is not a solution. It should be able to adapt to that situation. And that is what I have been trying to design a CO-care.

When we train community members to deliver the care, and of course our work now will be just empowering them to make decisions that they luckily understand and that they are more sustainable than relying solely on external ecstatic part. In Africa, generally, you will find local organization or international NGOs are lead by country directors that don't understand the contact.

But other organizations that are led by the local people themselves, you know, are able to be more resilient. I always tell the people, let us be adaptable, let us focus on capacity building, because tomorrow we will not be there. But the knowledge you give will always remain for generation and duration to come. And any infrastructure support will also remain there. Yes, Johannes, after all that you've been through,

continue to decide to stay and rebuild? And how do you, on a daily basis, maintain this sense of hope and possibility and forward motion? What allows that for you? My hope comes from action. And I always believe that I have made the best decision to stay, never to go anywhere, because living would mean that I'm abandoning my people. I believe that even a very small way in can save life. A mother-educated, a community leader trend on how they can be able to promote their agenda, prevent themselves from infectious diseases,

show that progress is possible. So every challenge is an opportunity for me. It's an opportunity to innovate, it's an opportunity to strengthen the health system that we have already started to establish. So my hope is built on tangible impact that we have seen and the resilient of our people. And yes, the current approach is good.

We go to the community, we train them, and then they are able to deliver themselves, but we also need to upgrade this skill. People who are being part of our local support at the community can be able now to upgrade their knowledge and be more like myself. I have a specialty that they can be able to help the people in a very specific way. It reminds me that I should not move away, because if I choose to go maybe specialize in the U.S.

in the U.S. and the U.K. condition may be good for me. I will desire and let me not come back. So that is why I'm choosing to stay here, acquire all the necessary education that I want, all the skills that I want to be able to provide further support for my people for my community in South Sudan. Thank you, Johannes. I'm really honestly just inspired to know you. It's been such a joy to get to follow your journey. So thank you for joining us today. And thank you for all you do in the world. It's a gift. You're welcome. That was Ted Fellow Johannes Reich. To learn more about the TED Fellows program and watch all the TED fellows films, go to fellows.com. And that's it for today. This episode was produced by Lucy Little, edited by Alejandra Salazar, and fact-checked by

Eva Dasher. The audio you heard at the top comes from the short film made by Divya Gendengi and Owen McLean, story edited by Corey Hageham and produced by Ian Lowe. Video production manager is Searing Dolma. Additional support from Lily James Olds, Leoney Horster, and Allegra Pearl. Ted Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. Our team includes Martha Estefanoz, Oliver Friedman, Brian, Lucy Little, and Tonica, Sungmar Nivong. Additional support from Emma Tobner and Danielle up Balerozzo. I'm Elise Hugh. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening.