Northern Bahr el Ghazal State's Ministry of Health says that battling a spike in new malaria cases is the ministry's “top priority” now, announcing that mosquito nets are available for vulnerable patients at health clinics across the state.

The Minister of Health Tong Deng Anei said on Tuesday that the number of malaria cases has increased at clinics and at the Aweil state hospital since the beginning of the rainy season, while adding that formal statistics about the caseload are not yet available.

“The main thing that we are dealing with at the moment is malaria, because this is the rainy season... Aweil State Hospital being the referral centre is actually hosting a lot of malaria cases.”

He called tackling the malaria epidemic the “top priority,” noting that in May they distributed about 10,000 mosquito nets and are distributing another 6,000 this month.

He said the mosquito nets were allocated to health centers to be given out to “the most vulnerable,” for example, women with small children.

The official said he was not able to give a rate for malaria this year because the collection of statistics and analysis had not yet been done. “At the moment what we are working on is the treatment... that is our priority now,” he said.

The minister encouraged all citizens of Northern Bahr el Ghazal to take their patients to nearby health facilities for immediate treatment.