In response to a dramatic rise in incidence of malaria cases in the UN Protection of Civilians Camp (PoC) in Bentiu South Sudan,  Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) in cooperation with UNICEF, has completed a door-to-door campaign providing malaria treatment to over 16,000 children between the ages of six months and five years.

In the last seven weeks, MSF teams have been treating as many as 4,000 malaria patients every week in its healthcare facilities in the Bentiu Protection of Civilians camp (PoC), a staggering 43 fold increase from figures at the beginning of the year.

As a result of skyrocketing malaria caseload, compounded by limited access to basic healthcare and lack of early access to diagnosis and treatment of malaria, many children have been arriving to the MSF hospital inside the PoC with severe malaria infection. Last week, an average of three children died from malaria every day in the MSF hospital after arriving in critical condition.

In response, MSF and UNICEF launched a door-to-door malaria treatment campaign to facilitate earlier access to malaria treatment for children.

“The malaria outbreak in the Bentiu camp is unprecedented in scope and has been claiming the lives of far too many children,” says Vanessa Cramond, MSF Medical Coordinator in Bentiu. “With the escalating morbidity and mortality witnessed in the under-five population, it was evident another response strategy was needed to reach those most at risk of death.”

The joint MSF and UNICEF campaign took place from 10 September to 17 September as community health teams went door-to-door identifying all children under the age of five with symptoms of malaria.

Over 210 community healthcare workers were employed in the campaign assessing approximately 30,000 children for suspected malaria and providing 16,118 with treatment.

“Our goal with this emergency response has been to provide early access to malaria treatment to the most vulnerable segment of the population – children under five years old – before their condition deteriorates to the point that their lives are placed in serious jeopardy.”

The population of the Bentiu PoC has more than doubled since May, to over 110,000 people, putting enormous strain on existing medical and humanitarian resources.

In the last two months, MSF has scaled up its medical operations significantly, opening three new emergency child health clinics and three dedicated malaria health points inside the PoC and training and employing 120 community health workers to monitor the health status of the population. MSF has also expanded the bed capacity of its hospital by over 60 beds to a total of more than 170.

The MSF hospital in the Bentiu PoC is the only hospital for the population of the camp. It provides 24 hour emergency room care, intensive care for malnourished children, medical treatment in pediatric and adult wards as well as surgical and maternity services. As a result of other concurrent outbreaks of infectious diseases, MSF also operates two isolation wards for patients with suspected hepatitis E and measles.

MSF operations in Bentiu are supported by more than 40 international staff and 350 local staff.