The number of patients suffering from kala-azar disease is on the rise in Akoka County, Upper Nile, county commissioner Daniel Yor said.

Yor told Radio Tamazuj Tuesday that there have been 55 cases of kala-azar with eleven deaths amid shortages of medicine and doctors.

This is up from 35 cases with four recorded fatalities that Yor reported at the beginning of September.

Yor said that the healthcare center is struggling to deal with the large number of patients arriving each day.

“The facility has two nurses only without specialized doctors,” he said.

Yor attributed the rise in kala-azar to the ongoing conflict in South Sudan. He said he sent a letter to the national and state ministries of health on the matter, but have yet to see tangible improvements.

Yor said that while the World Health Origination and Irish aid agency GOAL supplied medicine, he predicted the county will run out of drugs soon due to increasing cases.

Kala-azar is a disease characterized by irregular bouts of fever, substantial weight loss, swelling of the spleen and liver, and anaemia. It is carried by the sand fly and kills victims within weeks if not treated.

Separately, Yor reported that conflict-displaced people in the area have received food rations from the World Food Programme (WFP).

File photo: A child suffering from Kala Azar in Ayod (Medair).

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