KALA AZAR - Outbreak anticipated in South Sudan

The World Health Organization has reported that more than 1.5 million people are at risk of contracting Kala Azar disease in South Sudan. Kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis) is contracted through the bite of a parasite carrying sand fly. Symptoms include an enlarged spleen, fever, weakness and wasting tissue. It thrives in poor and remote areas. Children are at highest risk. If untreated, it is fatal in almost 100% of the cases. However, there is up to a 95% cure rate with proper medication and treatment.



A sandfly carrying the Kala Azar parasite

WHO officials are concerned that the severity of this outbreak will be exacerbated the forced repatriation displacement of South Sudanese from the north.Three-quarters of the people of Soth Sudan are unable to access basic medical care and the weak health care system cannot cope with emergencies. This is in an area that the WHO has already described as having a “confluence of the worst diseases on the planet”.
The severity of this outbreak is dwarfed by the wider medical humanitarian crisis facing the entire region, including malaria, measles, meningitis,typhoid and tuberculosis. The influx of refugees from the North will add to the largest population of displaced persons in the world. This will place additional strain on already limited resources, including the lack of adequate food, clean water, and medicines. 


Rob Kirkman with the Sudanese medical team in Borongole

Our Sudanese indigenous partners on the ground know where the need is greatest and how it can be most effectively met in the area we serve. These young men, Dr. Luka Benson and Samuel Koma Levi, are prepared to meet this challenge through our clinic serving the population in and around Borongole and the "Madi Corridor" of Eastern Equatoria. We need to ensure that they have the medications they need to meet the challenge.

Please consider helping by making a contribution by clicking the "Donate Today" button on the right, or sending a check to "Nehemiah Medical Missions", 57 McKinley Terrace, Pittsfield, MA  01201
"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try spending a night in a closed room with a mosquito"   African Proverb