South Sudan: Two deaths from hepatitis E as result of deplorable sanitation condition in Bentiu IDP camp

31/08/2021

South Sudan

Four-year old boy with hepatitis E receives medication at the MSF hospital in Bentiu camp.

Four-year old boy with hepatitis E receives medication at the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Bentiu camp. Ⓒ Damaris Giuliana/MSF

“We have repeatedly warned of the health risks of inadequate water and sanitation service provision in the Bentiu camp,” said Federica Franco, Doctors Without Borders country director. “A failure to address these issues, with agencies actually reducing their water and sanitation services over the past year, has now resulted in this avoidable situation.”

Since July, Doctors Without Borders teams have treated four times more patients with hepatitis E than in the previous months. Of 186 cases reported in 2021, over 60% were recorded over six weeks between in July to mid-August. Amongst the patients who passed way, one was a pregnant woman, as the Ministry of Health in South Sudan called attention to on 15 August. This is a highly concerning disease especially for this group, as they are more likely to experience severe illness and the mortality rate can be as high as between 10-30 per cent.

Hepatitis E is a viral liver disease prevalent in environments with poor water supply and sanitation. It is most commonly spread through the oral-faecal route, when people ingest water or food contaminated by an infected person’s faeces. The symptoms are acute jaundice, which turns people’s eyes and skin yellow, as well as fever, reduced appetite, nausea and vomiting, dark urine and enlargement of the liver, though people may not show symptoms at all.

A water point in Bentiu IDP camp. Residents use water containers to collect, transport and store drinking water. Current structure is not enough to ensure a minimum of 15L of water per day to all individuals, as recommended in the international standard. Ⓒ Damaris Giuliana/MSF

Doctors Without Borders teams have also witnessed an exponential growth in the number of people with acute watery diarrhoea. While we were treating an average of 230 patients per month throughout the year, we have seen 1,454 in July - a 50 per cent rise in the number of patients seen in June. The most affected are children aged under five years.

“We don’t have water containers in our house and sometimes my children go to bed without showering because the one jerry can we have is not enough for showering the five of us. We just use it for drinking,”

- Nyaker Deng Bol, 24 years old, Bentiu camp residen.

A lack of soap and latrines, as well as open sewers, are among the poor hygiene issues contributing to the appalling situation for over 100,000 people who live in the camp. During a survey Doctors Without Borders teams conducted this month, less than 27 per cent of the sampled households could show a piece of soap while being interviewed in their shelters. Additionally, only around 13 per cent of people have access to hand washing points with water and soap close to the latrines.

A recent survey conducted by MSF shows that Bentiu IDP camp has only one functional latrine to each 200 residents. This is ten times below the international standard. Among the issues, there is lack of doors and latrines are completely full.

A recent survey conducted by Doctors Without Borders shows that Bentiu IDP camp has only one functional latrine to each 200 residents. This is ten times below the international standard. Among the issues, there is lack of doors and latrines are completely full. Ⓒ Damaris Giuliana/MSF

An earlier Doctors Without Borders assessment in April showed that the number of functional latrines in the camp was ten times below the minimum international standard for the size of population.

“The deplorable water and sanitation situation in the Bentiu camp is not a new phenomenon but has continued to drastically deteriorate in the last two years, leaving an already vulnerable population at high risk of outbreaks, as we are currently witnessing,” analysed Samreen Hussain, Doctors Without Borders deputy medical coordinator.

While Doctors Without Borders has mobilised a medical response, organisations that provide water and sanitation in Bentiu camp have been increasing services to address the unacceptable conditions. Desludging, cleaning and rehabilitation of existing latrines, construction of new latrines, and distribution of soap and water containers should urgently continue, as the water and sanitation conditions are still extremely poor.

Working in Bentiu since 2014, Doctors Without Borders currently runs a 136-bed hospital with inpatient department, emergency room for children and adults, and surgery. We provide maternal care for complicated obstetrics, care for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, treatment for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and Kala azar, mental health care, inpatient therapeutic feeding centre, outreach programme within the IDP camp and post-exposure prophylaxis for rabies. We also provide water and sanitation services.