AFRICA/SUDAN - An ecumenical coalition to cope with the cholera emergency in Darfur

Thursday, 15 March 2018 healthcare caritas area crisis humanitarian aid ecumenicalism diseases

Oxfam

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Nierteti (Agenzia Fides) - The threat of the spread of cholera which is now flooding the central and western areas of Darfur is particularly serious in the villages of Nierteti and Jebel Marra. Contagions continue to increase, while registered deaths vary from village to village. Faced with this emergency, a coalition of organisms representing Christian Churches is offering an effective contribution to countering the possible epidemic. Local sources told Fides that in the medical isolation centers of Kuweila, Mara, Nierteti and Korifal, people suffering from "acute watery diarrhea" continue to arrive every day, which according to the medical standards of the World Health Organization corresponds to cholera.
The commitment of Caritas Internationalis to face the ongoing emergency continues through initiatives promoted through the dioceses of El Obeid and Khartoum and other programs offered in the country.
The death toll in Nierteti this year amounts to at least 22 dead, 18 people in February, and so far four other people in this first part of March.
The most serious humanitarian crisis of the last decade has been recorded since the start of the war in 2003 in Darfur. At least 3.5 million people currently need humanitarian aid, including more than one million internally displaced people in camps who survive with food aid. Life in refugee camps is difficult, families receive health care, food, water and other basic necessities through Caritas and the ACT Alliance, a cooperative body that gathers over 140 Christian, Protestant and Orthodox churches and organizations. The goal of Caritas and ACT is to form an ecumenical coalition that offers basic services to communities and helps people to become increasingly self-sufficient. In Khartoum and Darfur over 600 thousand people can also count on the aid of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Caritas based in the USA. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 15/03/2018)