Sharjah 24 – AFP: Aid workers in South Sudan warned Friday that a cholera outbreak was "rapidly escalating" in the far north of the young nation where chronic violence has displaced thousands.
At least 737 cases have been reported in a month in Upper Nile State, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said in a statement.
The outbreak was concentrated in Malakal -- a once flourishing trade hub reduced to a refugee town -- but had spread to other parts of the country, including the capital Juba.
The town has received huge numbers of South Sudanese fleeing back to the country due to the conflict in neighbouring Sudan, which has recorded more than 37,000 cases of cholera according to MSF.
"The situation in Malakal remains critical and we are concerned that the outbreak is spreading to neighbouring areas," MSF head of mission in South Sudan Zakaria Mwatia said.
The UN said last month it had secured more than 280,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine to be rolled out in transmission hotspots, saying the outbreak was driven by limited access to safe drinking water and poor sanitation.
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