This weeks featured project : Médecins Sans Frontières Australia

Oct 2004

SOUTH SUDAN :: new project to combat ‘black sickness’ in southern Sudan

In the Upper Nile region of southern Sudan, Médecins Sans Frontières has inaugurated a new project combating Kala Azar, a deadly disease known as the ‘black sickness.’ Despite being little known, 200 million people are at risk worldwide from Kala Azar and Sudan is one of the worst affected countries.

The Kala Azar parasite is spread by the bite of an infected female sand fly. Transmission is seasonal, and the Médecins Sans Frontières clinic has opened just in time to face the four months of the year when most cases occur. However, Kala Azar cases have been reported all year around.

While the disease is relatively easy to cure, following decades of civil war, southern Sudan has almost no health infrastructure and as such treatment is unavailable for most of the population. The last epidemic period occurred in Western Upper Nile during 1986-1995 when an estimated 100 000 from a population of 280 000 people died of the disease.

In south Sudan even basic health care is totally lacking, and across the Upper Nile region where the new project has opened, Médecins Sans Frontières also runs 5 primary health centres.

“One of the most important aspects of the new project is the involvement of the local community,” explains head of mission, Tiffany Moore. “While Médecins Sans Frontières provided technical expertise and imported some materials such as plastic sheeting, local people provided grass for roofing, poles for fencing, mud for tukuls (huts) and worked for free to build the structures. This is vital for the future of the project as it means people feel a sense of responsibility and ownership for the clinic.”

Located in the primary health centre in Walgak, the Kala Azar clinic treats the disease on an outpatient basis, with a limited in-patient capacity for severe cases. There are currently 29 patients receiving treatment and the team are prepared for greater numbers in the coming weeks. The clinic is also equipped to deal with other serious cases, such as people suffering from cerebral malaria, meningitis or gunshot wounds, which are referred from other clinics. Since the clinic opened in August, 250 people have already received treatment.

James Lorenz

Caring for victims of war
The peace process between northern and southern Sudan that has been underway since 2002 has renewed hopes for an end to Africa's longest-running civil war. The conflict has cost almost two million lives, mostly civilians who have died from hunger and disease. Yet amid talk of peace between the north and the south, the westernmost region of Sudan, Darfur, became the site of a growing catastrophe in the past year.

For years, MSF has assisted people in both northern and southern Sudan, providing basic health care at hospitals or through networks of clinics and health centers. Its work has included treating people with tuberculosis (TB), kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis) and other diseases; providing food; and treating the severely malnourished. MSF also delivers clean drinking water and provides sanitary facilities in areas where displaced people have sought shelter. » More

COUNTRY PROFILE Sudan
Population: 32,559,000
Life expectancy: 57 years
Expatriate staff: 282 | National staff: 3,657
MSF has worked in Sudan since 1979.

Sudan

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