Kala Azar

Francis Gatluak's transformation from MSF patient to MSF nurse has saved countless lives.

"Fighting Neglect" charts MSF's 25 years of experience in diagnosing and treating Chagas disease, sleeping sickness, and kala azar in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Caucasus.

After helping to successfully fight an outbreak of the deadly disease kala azar, MSF has handed over its project in Malakal to local health authorities. 

In this op-ed Dr. Unni Karunakara, international president of MSF, calls for increased commitment to the elimination of neglected diseases.

MSF's Dr. Marta González talks about the challenges of diagnosing and treating kala azar in India's Bihar State.

Kala azar, a disease transmitted by certain types of sand flies, is endemic in much of Bihar. It causes enlargement of the spleen and, if left untreated, is fatal for virtually all patients.

This past January, the people of southern Sudan voted overwhelmingly for independence, and in July the world will see the birth of a new country. It will be a country that faces enormous challenges—not least the urgent medical and humanitarian needs of millions of people.

A longtime MSF staff member and native of southern Sudan gives his impressions of the region after its people voted overwhelmingly for independence.

In collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the country’s Ministry of Health, an MSF medical team admitted 33 wounded patients to the hospital in the town of Malakal on the morning of February 11.

Through its Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, MSF has been closely following the developments in the world of access to medicines, vaccines and diagnostics.

"The kala azar treatment is very hard. While on kala azar medicines, Deng became very sick with jaundice. He had to receive a blood transfusion from his uncle, which did help him."

"This year, the outbreak is particularly bad. We’ve seen almost eight times the number of cases as we did during the same time last year..."

As southern Sudan heads towards a January 9, 2010, referendum on secession, it is battling to contain the biggest kala azar outbreak in the region in eight years.

In 2010, MSF responded to medical emergencies and provided nutritional support, reproductive healthcare, kala azar treatment, counseling services, surgery, and pediatric and obstetric care.

"We found that two factors were irregular this year. First, it was highly unusual that cases would begin as early as July. This is seven weeks earlier than last year. Secondly, the high number of cases..."

The Eijkman Medal is the most prestigious Dutch prize in the field of tropical medical science and is awarded every two years to scientists who have made a major contribution to research. Koert Ritmeijer was awarded the medal for his groundbreaking research into kala azar, also known as visceral leishmaniasis.

Given the current outbreak of the parasitic disease, more capacity to deal with the influx of patients is needed. The new site in Malakal 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.

Like his mother and elder sister, two-year-old Pal suffered from kala azar, also known as leishmaniasis, a very serious disease, before receiving treatment from us in Pagil, Southern Sudan.

MSF's two facilities in Imey in the Somali region of Ehtiopia provides crucial health care services to people who would otherwise go without.

MSF has set up an additional base in Pagil, in Jonglei State, Southern Sudan, to deal with an alarming increase in the number of patients infected with kala azar—or visceral leishmaniasis.

By Dr. Unni Karunakara, incoming president of MSF's International Council, and Dr. Bernard Pecoul, executive director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative

In the two months since MSF opened a kala azar treatment center in eastern Sudan, some 400 patients have been treated

Over one billion people are infected with one or more of the 14  diseases defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as  neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

More than 400 million people are at risk for the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) visceral leishmaniasis (kala azar), sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, and Buruli ulcer.

MSF is responding to outbreaks of kala azar—a severe parasitic disease—in Southern Sudan. The emergency is in several locations across the eastern part of the region, and MSF is treating patients in its clinics in Pibor and Lankien, both in Jonglei State, and using mobile teams in Rom, in Upper Nile State, to actively trace patients.

Some of the world’s leading photojournalists worked alongside our medical teams throughout 2008, documenting our work and following the lives of our patients and their communities. At the same time, some of our own staff captured unforgettable moments that we are pleased to include in this Year in Pictures issue of Alert, which brings together some of the most moving and telling photographs of the crises to which we responded in 2008.

For 21 years, the south of Sudan was the country’s hotbed of conflict, until a peace agreement was signed in 2005. However, the emergency is far from over.