JUBA – The national Ministry of Health is alarmed by the increased infections of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) in Bentiu among the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
At least 905 HEV cases, including deaths, have been reported in the Bentiu IDP camp since the beginning of 2019.
HEV is a viral illness that affects the liver causing yellowing of the eyes, skin, and mucus membranes and sometimes it is associated with mild fever, loss of appetite, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
Dr. John Rumunu, Director General for Preventive Health Services in the national Ministry of Health, said severe cases are being reported among pregnant women during their latest stage of pregnancy.
He made the statement on Sunday while addressing the media at the Public Health Emergency Operation Centre in the capital Juba.
The disease is normally transmitted by drinking dirty water or eating contaminated food.
“Two deaths have been reported, one of the deaths involved a 27-year-old pregnant mother. The cases of HEV in the settlement have been increasing every year,” Rumunu said.
“From 2019 to 2020, the HEV cases increased by 147 (113 percent) and from 2020 to August 2021, the cases increased by 219 (79 percent),” he added.
Rise in cases
By 2021, the weekly number of cases had risen from 3 cases per week during the second week of 2021 to 35 cases per week in week 30 of 2021.
However, in comparison, the weekly HEV 30 of 2020 and 3 cases in week 30 of 2019 thus showing that the current weekly HEV cases have increased 10-fold when compared to the corresponding period of 2019.
“The HEV cases have risen significantly since the beginning of 2021 and since week 19 of 2021, the cases reported have consistently been above the epidemic based on the expected number of cases projected from the trends in 2018, 2019, and 2020,” Rumunu said.
Dr. Rumunu stressed that 51.7 percent of the HEV cases were males between 15 to 44-years-old, followed by children 1 to 4 years.
According to the health ministry, all sectors from sectors 1 to 5 have been affected with only marginal differences in the proportion of cases across sectors with widespread distribution of underlying drivers of transmission.
“A significant proportion of cases have also been reported to have originated from outside the IDP settlement thus suggesting that transmission of HEV is occurring in Bentiu town as well,” Dr. Rumunu said.
The Director-General of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation, Peter Mahal Akat has attributed the escalating HEV trends in 2021 to the taking of contaminated water, poor sanitation, and hygiene.
A WASH assessment by MSF in April this year showed that latrines in the settlement had reduced by nearly 50 percent to 2,564 and for the current IDP population of 131,602 access to improved latrines stands at 50 individuals per 20 people.
“The sanitation situation in the settlement is worse since less than 20 percent of the 2,564 latrines are fully functional, desludging of latrines is routinely delayed, resulting in unusable, overflowing latrines throughout the camp,” Mahal stated.
He stressed that the Ministry of Health was responding to the ongoing surge and that it has also activated the state HEV task force that could convene weekly on Wednesday to review the health situation.
He said currently they are updating the HEV response strategy.
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