The national ministry of health has raised an alarm over the recent increase in the number of Hepatitis E virus (HEV) cases in the Bentiu Internally Displaced Camp in Unity State.
Health officials said the number of cases has risen from 3 per week in January to 35 cases per week in August 2021.
Dr. John Rumunu, the Director-General for Preventive Health Services at the ministry of health, during a press briefing on Sunday said, “The Hepatitis E virus cases have risen significantly since the beginning of 2021 and since week 19 of 2021, the cases reported have consistently been above the epidemic threshold based on the expected number of cases projected from the trends in 2018, 2019 and 2020.”
The health ministry said the Bentiu IDP Camp has poor sanitation and hygiene due to the limited number of latrines in the settlement.
“The sanitation situation in the settlement is worse since less than 20 percent of the 2,564 latrines are fully functional. Desludging of latrines is routinely delayed resulting in unusable, overflowing latrines throughout the camp. As a result, open defecation is on the rise especially along with the oxidation ponds that are also used by households for washing, bathing, and for recreation purposes by the children,” the health ministry report said.
The report attributed the escalating HEV case trends to sliding Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) standards that are below the recommended sphere standards for humanitarian response.
For his part, Peter Mahal, the Director-General at the Directorate of Rural Water and Supply Sanitation in South Sudan, said WASH is the only remedy in the camp and across the country to prevent Hepatitis E Virus infections.
“Apart from the treatment, the WASH is key because if you provide safe drinking water and you create awareness for proper sanitary management, then actually you have addressed the problem from the roots. This is where now the WASH institutions led by the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and also supported by WASH partners come in,” Mahal explained.
A WASH assessment by MSF in April 2021 showed that latrines in the Bentiu settlement had reduced by nearly 50% to 2,564. For the current IDP population of 131,602, access to improved latrines stands at 50 individuals per shared latrine, which falls short of the recommended minimum sphere standard of 1 shared toilet per 20 people.
According to the ministry of health, 51.7% of the Hepatitis E Virus cases are males aged 15-44, followed by children from 1-4 years and persons from 15-44 years.
Since the beginning of 2019, 905 Hepatitis E Virus cases have been confirmed including 8 deaths reported in Bentiu IPD settlement. Two deaths have been reported this year with one death involving a 27-year-old pregnant woman.
Hepatitis E virus is a viral illness that affects the liver causing yellowing of the eyes, skin, and mucus membranes, and may be associated with mild fever, loss of appetite, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
The disease is transmitted through drinking contaminated water or food contaminated with the virus.
Bentiu Internally Displaced Camp has 131,602 people.