AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - Malaria: 4,000 cases a week and the death of three children a day

Bentiu (Agenzia Fides) - "The malaria outbreak in Bentiu camp is unprecedented in scope and has been claiming the lives of too many children", said the medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Bentiu, in a statement sent to Agenzia Fides. UN Protection of Civilians Camp (PoC) in Bentiu South Sudan now houses 110,000 people who continue to flee fighting and violence. The MSF hospital of the Bentiu PoC is the only hospital for the population in the camp. It provides emergency services 24 hours a day, intensive care for malnourished children, medical pediatric and adult care, surgical and maternity services. In August and September 2015, MSF teams treated as many as 4,000 malaria patients every week. As a result of skyrocketing malaria casehold, compounded by limited access to basic healthcare and lack of early access to diagnosis and treatment of malaria, many children have been arriving to the hospital with severe malaria infection, reads the statement. In recent weeks an average of three children died from malaria every day, after arriving in critical condition. In response, MSF and UNICEF launched a door-to-door malaria treatment campaign to assess 30,000 children for suspected cases and providing 16,000 children between 6 months and 5 years with treatment. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 02/10/2015)

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