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Kala Azar

Kala Azar

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease endemic in 88 countries and affecting over 12 million people. It principally affects poor, remote communities where there is limited access to healthcare and affordable drugs. Leishmaniasis often occurs as an epidemic, especially when previously unexposed populations are forced by war and famine to move into endemic areas. The parasite is transmitted to humans by biting sand flies.   In the most severe form of the disease, the visceral leishmaniasis also called kala azar, the parasite attacks the visceral organs such as the liver and spleen. It also attacks the immune system and, without treatment, kala azar is fatal in almost 100% of cases. Over 90 percent of visceral leishmaniasis cases...
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MSF Activity Report 2010

20 July 2011
MSF Activity Report 2010
MSF Activity Report 2010
Open publication - Free publishing - More 2010 The International Activity Report 2010 gives details of the worldwide operational activities of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Overall, 27,650 MSF staff members worked on 427 projects in 60 countries, bringing medical assistance to people affected by natural disaster, armed conflict and epidemics. Our teams carried out some 7.3 million outpatient consultations and over 58,000 surgical interventions.  
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Channel Africa, SABC Radio: South Sudan health special

14 July 2011
Malnutrition sudan southsudan Africa conflict
Decades of war have crippled South Sudan’s healthcare system
Dr Prinitha Pillay, MSF South Africa’s board president, spoke to SABC Channel Africa radio journalist, Jane Mathebula, about the state of health care in South Sudan in the wake of the country’s independence. Pillay spent nine months working in South Sudan between 2010 and 2011. “The situation in South Sudan today in fact remains a humanitarian emergency,” Pillay said. “The needs are acute and they are unmet. I think it’s important to know, or at least what I’ve seen, it that it’s already dire for the population.  The civilian population has born the brunt of emergency.” Before the second civil war erupted in the 1990s, Sudan had a functioning health system, especially in the...
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Fighting kala azar in the Indian state of Bihar

11 March 2010
Fighting kala azar in the Indian state of Bihar
Fighting kala azar in the Indian state of Bihar
Largely unknown in the developed world, Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease that affects more than 12 million people worldwide. Kala azar, the visceral form of the disease is particularly prevalent in some areas of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and East Africa.  Fatal if not treated, kala azar is transmitted by the bite of a sand fly. There is no accurate data on cases numbers but it is estimated there are around 500,000 new cases reported each year and up to half of them are in Bihar in northern India.   In July 2007, MSF began treating kala azar in Hajipur hospital and supports several primary health centres in the district of Vaishali using liposomal amphoteracin B, commercially known as AmBisome, an effective...
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Hope for Kala Azar Sufferers in Bangladesh

19 June 2010
FULBARIA, Bangladesh - Today, a new medical programme bringing hope to thousands of kala azar sufferers in Bangladesh is being launched by humanitarian medical aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in partnership with the Ministry of Health (MoH), Bangladesh.   The joint initiative between the Government and MSF will bring free lifesaving treatment to over 3000 people suffering from the deadly disease in the Fulbaria upazila of Bangladesh over the next 2 years, explains Head of Mission for MSF in Bangladesh, Paul Critchley.   “Kala azar is deadly if untreated. Early diagnosis and effective treatment can save many lives. MSF is working closely with the MoH to develop...
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Southern Sudan: MSF to Open Additional Kala Azar Treatment Site in Upper Nile State

01 November 2010
MSF to Open Additional Kala Azar Treatment Site in Upper Nile State
MSF to Open Additional Kala Azar Treatment Site in Upper Nile State
An MSF nurse prepares an injection for treatment of kala azar at an MSF-run facility in Pibor, Jonglei State, which neighbours Upper Nile State, where MSF is responding to high numbers of new kala azar patients. Photo: Jenn Warren Médecins Sans Frontières /Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is preparing to open an additional kala azar referral treatment site in Malakal, in the Upper Nile State of Southern Sudan. Given the current outbreak of the parasitic disease, more capacity to deal with the influx of patients is needed. The new site comes in addition to MSF project sites in Lankien and Pagil and surrounding areas, all of which are treating unusually high numbers of kala azar patients. ”We are going to support the kala...
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Treating kala azar in Bangladesh

08 September 2010
The neglected and deadly disease kala azar - also called visceral leishmaniasis - is currently being reported in 45 districts of Bangladesh. MSF is working in two areas of Mymensingh district, which has 60 percent of the country’s cases.
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Southern Sudan in grips of worst kala azar outbreak in eight years

17 December 2010
Southern Sudan in grips of worst kala azar outbreak in eight years
Southern Sudan in grips of worst kala azar outbreak in eight years
Epidemic compounds existing medical humanitarian crisis. Photo: Cédric Gerbehaye / Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund / VU' Juba, 16th December 2010: As Southern Sudan heads towards a January 9th referendum on secession, it is battling to contain its biggest kala azar outbreak in eight years. The severity of this outbreak is just one symptom of the wider medical humanitarian crisis facing the region, warns the international emergency aid agency, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which includes abysmal lack of access to healthcare, chronic malnutrition, regular outbreaks of preventable diseases, and insecurity that displaces communities and destroys lives.   Kala azar, or visceral leishmaniasis, is a...
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Podcast: MSF Frontline Report - Fighting kala azar in southern Sudan

10 February 2011
Fighting kala azar in southern Sudan
MSF Frontline Report - Fighting kala azar in southern Sudan
Kala azar—or visceral leishmaniasis—is a treatable but largely neglected disease. Southern Sudan is currently facing a massive kala azar epidemic. This is a region where three-quarters of the population has no access to basic medical care, and the health system is unable to deal with an emergency on this scale.
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by Dr. Radut.