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Human African Trypanosomiasis in DRC
MSF mobile clinic staff conduct blood tests to diagnose sleeping sickness in the village of Basoloy, Doromo region, northeastern DRC. If the parasite’s presence is confirmed, it's necessary to move forward to the last station, in which a lumbar puncture is performed to identify the stage of the disease.
© Marizilda Cruppe

Sleeping sickness in Orientale province

MSF mobile clinic staff conduct blood tests to diagnose sleeping sickness in the village of Basoloy, Doromo region, northeastern DRC. If the parasite’s presence is confirmed, it's necessary to move forward to the last station, in which a lumbar puncture is performed to identify the stage of the disease.
© Marizilda Cruppe

In Orientale province, in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an MSF mobile team provides test and diagnostic of sleeping sickness (properly known as human African trypanosomiasis) to the population living in the rural area of Doromo. This parasitic infection transmitted by tsetse flies occurs in around 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly three-quarters of all reported cases of sleeping sickness are in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the health system is dysfunctional and access to care is extremely jeopardised by constant armed conflicts.