Over 60 years ago, Italian nuns at St Therese Hospital, in Nzara, began treating leprosy and TB. Today they need your help more than ever. South Sudan plunged into civil war in 2013, with both sides committing horrific abuses against civilians. Women and children, in particular, have borne the brunt of the conflict. The St Therese Hospital is a safe haven among the chaos and devastation.
As the displaced population continues to swell around Nzara, the number of people seeking urgent medical treatment grows daily, placing monumental pressure on the Sisters’ scant resources. As well as treating chronic wounds and injuries, the doctors and nurses face an array of serious illnesses, from malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS, and leprosy, to typhoid and gastrointestinal disorders.
MOST LOCAL WATER SOURCES IN THE AREA ARE CONTAMINATED WITH WASTE AND PARASITES, FREQUENTLY CAUSING WATER-BORNE DISEASES.
From June to October, the Sisters can expect an influx of patients due to the increase of malaria cases. Vulnerable children with low immune systems are frequent victims of this terrible disease, and the need for staff, beds and lifesaving treatment is high. The Sisters desperately need more funds to buy malaria drugs in preparation for this difficult period.
RT’s support focuses especially on the 70-bed Paediatric Ward. In the last year, with your support, Nzara Hospital treated 5,456 children as inpatients, of which 3,600 children were below the age of five. In a country with one of the world’s highest child mortality rates, at 93 deaths per thousand, the Paediatric Ward is crucial to reducing infant deaths. Daily, the Sisters face long queues as families wait patiently for their children to be treated. The cries of some can be heard through the corridors. Others open their mouths, but are too weak to cry. No matter how long the queues get, the Sisters will not turn away those needing vital medical care.
£50 can buy 12 anti-malarial injections
From June to October, the Sisters can expect an influx of patients due to the increase of malaria cases. Vulnerable children with low immune systems are frequent victims of this terrible disease, and the need for staff, beds and lifesaving treatment is high. The Sisters desperately need more funds to buy malaria drugs in preparation for this difficult period.
South Sudan has been devastated by civil war since 2013. Fighting has killed almost 400,000 people, displaced millions and left more than 7 million in dire need of humanitarian aid. Both sides have committed horrific crimes against humanity, including the mass murder of civilians, abductions, rape, torture and the use of child soldiers. The Comboni Missionary Sisters daily put their lives at risk in South Sudan, the most dangerous country in the word for aid workers. Even the basic task of taking cash out for the hospital is fraught with risk. South Sudan’s banking system has collapsed, so the Sisters must make the perilous journey over hazardous roads to Kampala, in Uganda, over 600 miles away.
Many hospitals in South Sudan have been forced to close because of the conflict, famine and lack of funds, but the Sisters are resolute in their determination to carry on.
