Medical charity Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned Thursday of an “alarming number of deaths” from disease and hunger in Bentiu, Unity State.

MSF said in a press release that at least three children under 5 years old die per day in the UN camp in Bentiu, where some 45,000 people are taking refuge from South Sudan’s six month civil war.

"People came here for safety, but they are facing life-threatening conditions inside the camps," said Nora Echaibi, medical team leader of an MSF hospital in Bentiu. "It is rapidly becoming catastrophic."

MSF said most of the deaths were from preventable diseases like acute diarrhoea, pneumonia, and malnutrition. The group called for a “rapid increase in water supplies, hygiene promotion and latrine construction.”

MSF said the people in Bentiu’s camp have access to less than a third of the water required per person per day.

"Residents are forced to drink from puddles often contaminated with human waste," the press release said.  "There is only one working latrine on average for every 241 people."

The camp’s population has shot up due to continued hostilities in Unity State while rains have flooded latrines and medical facilities, MSF said.

The medical group is "very worried" about outbreaks of cholera, hepatitis, and malaria.

The United Nations' humanitarian arm, OCHA, said in its most recent update that agencies had boosted water and sanitation activities in South Sudan to help 1.9 million people across the country, but they’ve still reached only 32% of those in need.

OCHA said the nutrition situation across South Sudan is “deterioting,” and that the crisis shows “no sign of abating.”  The organization said only 41% of funding needs are met and repeated its warning that up to 50,000 children could die of hunger if their needs are not addressed.

A baby is treated for malnutrition at the MSF hospital in Lietchuor Ethiopia, April 6, 2014. Adriane Ohanesian