Health of South Sudan flood victims at risk - MSF

By Nichola Mandil

The international charity Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF) has warned that the health of displaced flood victims in South Sudan is likely to deteriorate without further aid.

Earlier this month the UN humanitarian agency reported that nearly half a million people were affected by flash floods in six of the country's ten regional states.

The charity said the population's health needs are extremely high compared to before the heavy rains.

It cites the most common conditions as diarrhea, upper respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections, malaria and malnutrition.

The leader of the charity's medical team in Old Fangak said there is no clean drinking water in the affected communities

and there are reports some people are surviving on fish and water lillies.

Food scarcity is reported to be widespread because the flooding has made agriculture impossible for most of the population, who are small scale farmers.

People also do not have adequate transportation to reach medical centres, MSF says.

This article originally appeared in BBC News.

Photo: MSF