As South Sudan’s civil war rages, cholera takes deadly toll
PIERI, South Sudan — Clasping frail arms around his stomach, Machar Weituor doubles over in pain as he slowly positions himself over the hole in his bed. Too feeble to make it to the toilet, the 40-year-old groans faintly as he defecates into a bucket.
“I’m worried he’ll die,” says his wife, Nyibol Maluok, lying on the cement floor beside him. He had been carried from his village, lying on a wooden ladder, for five hours by relatives.
Twenty-four hours earlier, the couple had arrived at the clinic in Pieri, a rebel-held town in South Sudan’s Jonglei state and part of what the United Nations calls “the longest, most widespread and most deadly cholera outbreak” since the country won independence in 2011.
Since this outbreak began one year ago, over 11,000 cases have been reported, including at least 190 deaths, according to the World Health Organization and South Sudan’s government. WHO says 2017 shows a slight increase in cases, which coincides with the recent surge of displaced people across the country as civil war moves well into its fourth year.