Chronic diseases were the leading cause of death last month in United Nations protection of civilian sites in South Sudan, the UN’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
Tuberculosis, HIV, and AIDS accounted for eight of 36, roughly 31%, of total deaths within the camps, according to OCHA.
“This highlights the need to strengthen HIV and AIDS services in the sites,” the Office said.
In its weekly situation update available for download here, OCHA recommended that health agencies set up additional centers to diagnose and treat these diseases.
Chronic diseases like TB and HIV/AIDS require uninterrupted treatment, often on strict time schedules, which is difficult to maintain for transient or displaced patients.
A recent report by medical charity CARE International warned that “treatment models dependent on uninterrupted delivery of care (including [Anti-Retroviral Treatement] for HIV/AIDS, [Directly Observed Treatment, Short-Course] treatment of tuberculosis) are at risk of disruption.”
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