There are countries which remain in the shadow of the media news but which are nevertheless traversed by the worst scourges. In addition to being bloodied by an armed conflict between rebels and South Sudanese soldiers, the people of South Sudan must also fight against the ravages of cholera.
While the inhabitants take refuge where they can, the disease is gaining ground. Already 166,000 South Sudanese have fled fighting across South Sudan. Since the officialization of the epidemic on June 23, the World Health Organization has identified 212 cases of cholera, including 39 fatalities. The epidemic started from the capital Juba and is now spreading to the neighboring state of Jonglei, particularly destroyed by the civil war.
The disastrous economic situation and the exorbitant inflation complicate the care of the sick, penniless and destitute in the face of the disease. “Many people cannot even afford drinking water,” said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), quoted by AFP.
Forced to drink the water of the Nile, the inhabitants become easy prey for the bacillus Vibrio cholerae, at the origin of the acute diarrheal infection characteristic of cholera.
According to the WHO, 3 to 5 million people are infected with cholera worldwide each year. The disease is responsible for 100,000 to 120,000 deaths per year.
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