As S. Sudan’s civil war rages cholera takes deadly toll
PIERI, South Sudan: Clasping frail arms around his stomach, Machar Weituor doubles over in pain as he slowly positions himself over the hole in his bed. Too feeble to make it to the toilet, the 40-year-old groans faintly as he defecates into a bucket.
“I’m worried he’ll die,” says his wife, Nyibol Maluok, lying on the cement floor beside him. He had been carried from his village, lying on a wooden ladder, for five hours by relatives.
Twenty-four hours earlier, the couple had arrived at the clinic in Pieri, a rebel-held town in South Sudan’s Jonglei state and part of what the UN calls “the longest, most widespread and most deadly cholera outbreak” since the country won independence in 2011.
Since this outbreak began a year ago, over 11,000 cases have been reported, including at least 190 deaths, according to the World Health Organization and South Sudan’s government. WHO says 2017 shows a slight increase in cases, which coincides with the recent surge of displaced people across the country as civil war moves well into its fourth year.
The fast-developing, highly contagious infection can spread in areas without clean drinking water and with poor sanitation. It can result in death through dehydration if left untreated.
Pieri and surrounding areas in April experienced their first cholera outbreak in 21 years. Community leaders say 36 people have died in two months alone. They attribute the severity of the outbreak to an inability to support an overwhelming increase in the town’s population.
Due to fighting between South Sudan’s government and opposition forces in surrounding areas, Pieri’s population has tripled since February. Once a town of roughly 15,000 inhabitants, it now hosts an additional 30,000 displaced people.
“People don’t have soap, enough water or utensils to cook with,” says Pieri’s commissioner, Tot Thinkel.
The situation will only get worse without consistent humanitarian access, says Doctors Without Borders, the only foreign aid organization with a presence in Pieri.
“Displaced people are in more vulnerable situations,” says Karin Fischer Liddle, the aid group’s medical coordinator in South Sudan. “They are prone to outbreaks like cholera and also more at risk for malaria and other diseases because they don’t have the same means of protection.”
The civil war has displaced an estimated 2 million people inside the country and sent another 2 million fleeing to neighboring nations in what the UN has called the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis.