Cholera continues to hit war-torn South Sudan

By Parach Mach

JUBA, South Sudan

An outbreak of cholera in war-torn South Sudan has killed more than 20 people in the country’s southeastern state of Kapoeta, which borders northern Kenya, a health official said Monday.

Stella Lorika, the Kapoeta minister of health, told local radio that 20 people have died of Cholera in the region since an outbreak was declared last month.

“The cases of cholera are increasing on a daily basis in Kapoeta North County especially when it rains,” Lorika said.

Last month, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 172 people had died across 14 counties in South Sudan since the initial outbreak was reported in June last year.

Furthermore, in South Sudan, the first country to declare a famine since 2011, the UN has recorded almost 5,640 cases of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) and cholera in some parts of the country.

In Somalia, half of the population (some 6.2 million people) faces hunger, almost 12,700 cases were recorded.

South Sudan has been ravaged by ruinous civil war since 2013 when president Salva Kiir accused his sacked deputy Riek Machar of coup. Machar denied the allegations and quickly mobilized forces to fight the government.

Tens of thousands of have been killed, over million displaced from their homes including 5.3 million people at the risk of starvation according UN.