Jenn Warren

Photography: Médecins Sans Frontières: South Sudan: Facing up to Reality

Health Crisis Deepens as Violence Escalates in South Sudan 

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) provides care to millions of people in six states in South Sudan. The repeated waves of tribal violence in Jonglei state, and the targeting of MSF health facilities, made it extremely difficult for MSF to reach people in need of aid. 

Conflict between various ethnic groups in Jonglei state has been ongoing for decades, killing and displacing thousands of people. MSF has demonstrated its complete impartiality and neutrality over the years, working in many different communities in South Sudan. In 2011, three MSF medical facilities were targeted in Jonglei state. MSF condemns the targeting of medical facilities by any armed group, and commits to continuing to bring humanitarian aid and medical assistance to the population of Jonglei state. 

Present in the most rural and neglected regions of South Sudan, Médecins Sans Frontières has been active in the country since 1979. Rural villages, home to millions of South Sudanese, are completely cut off and suffer greatly from the most basic of medical needs and emergencies.  

South Sudan is desperate for the most basic of services – clean water, access to food, education and health care. The further deteriorating security situation only adds to this humanitarian emergency where medical needs are critical. Famine and acute malnutrition, malaria, kala azar, and outbreaks of preventable diseases such as meningitis and cholera, are a constant threat, and mortality rates for pregnant women and children in the new nation are the highest in the world. 

Download the full report from MSF 

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  • Aerial view of Pieri village, Lol Nuer territory in Jonglei State. The Lol Nuer are perpetrators of repeated cattle raids and attacks against the Dinka and Murle tribes, and the Jikany Nuer sub-tribe. Tribal violence overall in Southern Sudan has dramatically increased in 2009, with over 2000 deaths, more people than have been killed in Darfur.
  • Nyalol Dol, from Torkej, is squatting in a tukul built for cattle while dismantling her tukul to sell the wood and grass for food. Torkej, Jikany Nuer territory, was attacked on 8 May by the larger Lol Nuer tribe, and is vulnerable to repeated cattle raids and attacks because of their placement on the river and proximity to Lol Nuer lands. Nyalol's 5 children were all killed in the nighttime raid, and she is terrified to return home for fear of another violent attack. The Lol Nuer are perpretrators of repeated cattle raids and attacks against the Dinka, Murle, and Jikany Nuer sub-tribe. Tribal violence overall in Southern Sudan has dramatically increased in 2009, with over 2000 deaths, more people than have been killed in Darfur.
  • Following the attack on Likuangole on 8 March 2009, MSF couldn't reopen the PHCU in Likuangole for almost 6 months. Almost the end of the rainy season, and start of the hunger gap in Jonglei State, MSF staff are now running malnutrition programs to assist those still displaced and recently returned. Murle and Nuer tribes repeatedly conduct cattle raids on the other, but the attacks have gotten more and more violent since the start of the year. Women and children are now being targeted and killed, with over 2000 dead since January 2009.
  • Nurse in the Therapeutic Feeding Program at the MSF-H Nasir Hospital, holds Parwaath Dabwual, 1 year, while her mother washes clothes. Parwaath will be discharged and monitored on the Home-Based Feeding Program at the end of the day. Food insecurity and malnutrition is prevalent in Southern Sudan this year, after a short rainy season produced low crop yields, and thousands have been displaced by tribal violence.
  • Tonyang Coli brings her 2.5 year old son Lele Bok to the MSF Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) every other day to replace the dressing on his burns. Children are commonly burned by open fire, usually resulting in 3rd degree burns. The PHCC serves one of the largest villages of the Murle people, Pibor, who are an entirely nomadic community of cattle herders. MSF is the only healthcare providing organisation operating in Pibor, Jonglei State.
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  • Mother of a girl suffering from cerebral malaria in the MSF Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) Pediatric Inpatient Ward in Pibor, Jonglei State. Luckily, her daughter survived and was sent home after 4 days. Pibor is one of the largest villages of the Murle people, who are an entirely nomadic community of cattle herders, and MSF is the only healthcare providing organisation operating in the area.
  • Lelchok Lomithe, 2, is recovering from an abcess on his shoulder, in the MSF Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) Pediatric Inpatient Ward in Pibor, Jonglei State. Pibor is one of the largest villages of the Murle people, who are an entirely nomadic community of cattle herders, and MSF is the only healthcare providing organisation operating in the area.
  • Kaka Maze holds her daughter Kidich Jiji, 3, who is suffering from cerebral malaria in the MSF Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) Pediatric Inpatient Ward in Pibor, Jonglei State. The girl was transferred from a remote MSF Primary Health Care Unit (PHCU) in Gumuruk, after convulsions and coma. Kidich couldn't arise from the coma, and she later passed away. Pibor is one of the largest villages of the Murle people, who are an entirely nomadic community of cattle herders, and MSF is the only healthcare providing organisation operating in the area.
  • MSF Nurse Assistants wait for the Isolation Ward to be opened to place the body of Kidich Jiji, 3, for the family to bring assistance for burial. The girl died from cerebral malaria in the MSF Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) Pediatric Inpatient Ward in Pibor, Jonglei State. Kidich was transferred from a remote MSF Primary Health Care Unit (PHCU) in Gumuruk, after convulsions and coma. Pibor is one of the largest villages of the Murle people, who are an entirely nomadic community of cattle herders, and MSF is the only healthcare providing organisation operating in the area.
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