South Sudan’s cholera outbreak is worsening with reports of outbreaks in overcrowded and unsanitary camps in Unity and Upper Nile State.
There are now hundreds of suspected cholera cases in Bentiu, Wau Shilluk, and Malakal in addition to the thousands of cases in Juba and Eastern Equatoria, according to the latest weekly situation report by the UN’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
OCHA reported a possible outbreak in Wau Shilluk, Upper Nile where 246 suspected cases were reported in only 72 hours.
Aid agencies set up a cholera treatment center in Wau Shilluk, a small village about an hour downstream of Malakal where about 39,000 displaced people are sheltering, with oral rehydration and handwashing stations and distributed soap and hygiene kits.
Earlier this week, humanitarian agency Oxfam reported one case of cholera in the Malakal UN base.
In the Bentiu UN base, there were eleven suspected cholera cases and one death. OCHA said samples are still being confirmed to see if it is indeed cholera.
OCHA said over a hundred new latrines were constructed in Bentiu to improve sanitation in the congested camp, though they need nearly 500 more to reach the international standard of one latrine for every 50 people.
The report said that cholera response supplies need replenishment in Eastern Equatoria and Upper Nile, and that there are nine cholera treatment centers in Juba, where nearly 2000 cholera cases have been reported since May.
In total nationwide 2,613 cases of the disease have been reported as of 2 July, with 63 deaths, making for a case fatality rate of 2.4 per cent, above the emergency threshold of 1 per cent.
OCHA appealed for more donor assistance to stem the cholera outbreak.
“More funding is needed to scale up activities to mitigate against cholera, other potential waterborne disease outbreaks, and ensure continuation of current services in sites where standards are not yet met,” it said. “Funds are also needed to ensure deployment of mobile teams to remote locations where many displaced people have still not received assistance.”
So far, relief agencies have received less than half of the 1.8 billion dollars needed to deal with the humanitarian disaster that began in South Sudan with the outbreak of civil war in December.
Read OCHA’s full situation report here.
Photo: (MSF/Andreea Campeanu)