MSF warns of high malaria risk in southern Sudan region

NAIROBI, Nov 18 (AFP) — The French medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), on Tuesday warned of increased risk of malaria in southern Sudan because of heavy rains following on a severe drought.

“Two years of drought and heavier rains than the previous years have created ideal conditions for mosquitoes, the vector of malaria,” Doctors Without Borders said.

MSF teams were currently treating more than 5,000 patients a week in the Bahr-el-Ghazal region and have so far treated more than 52,000 patients in the last four months, 800 of them severe.

“Malaria is endemic in this region, but there has been sustained increase in the number of cases this year, compared to previous years,” the statement quoted MSF’s medical coordinator in Sudan, Greg Elder, as saying.

“Mobile clinics have been set up in isolated areas, as the particularly heavy rains have transformed the entire region into marshland, preventing patients from reaching health facilities,” the statement said.

MSF said the latest malaria outbreak follows a serious food crisis that has affected the province since April.

“Already weakened by malnutrition, children under the age of five are even more vulnerable this year,” the statement warned.

Malaria is a major burden in southern Sudan, an area lacking appropriate infrustructure, owing mainly to two decades of civil war and a reccurent famine.

Malaria, which kills an estimated one million people every year, is Africa’s leading cause of death among children under five. It accounts for one-tenth of the overall disease burden across the continent, according to the WHO.