Kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis)

In late 2022, MSF’s team in Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia received an alert about an usually high number of deaths in the south Omo Valley among an isolated group of people from the Mursi Tribe, living in what is now a national park. The Mursi are a small...

On 9 July 2021, the Republic of South Sudan marked its tenth birthday. This significant milestone is also marred by the bloody legacy of its first decade, including a five-year civil war. At this very moment, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) released a new report titled South Sudan at 10: an MSF...

Kasaye sits on his bed in the intensive care unit of the MSF health centre in Abdurafi, a bottle of soda and some cookies in his hands. He looks incredibly frail and the simple acts of drinking and eating seem to require immense effort. “This is the thirteenth time that I have come to MSF for kala...

The conflict that erupted in South Sudan little more than a year ago has left people more vulnerable to a deadly tropical disease known as kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis). The risk of infection increases as people are displaced by fighting into areas where the disease is prevalent and...

Bihar state, in the northeast of India, is an epicentre of kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis), a neglected tropical disease responsible for 50,000 deaths every year worldwide. Bihar’s Ministry of Health has declared 15 March ‘Kala Azar Day’ to increase awareness of the disease which, if left...

Visceral leishmaniasis is known worldwide as kala azar. Since 2007 Médecins Sans Frontières（MSF） is implementing a kala azar diagnostic and treatment project in Bihar state, northern India. It is ten in the morning and several people are already waiting at the lab doors to be tested for kala azar...

Since January 2010, MSF has been running a kala azar treatment centre in the state of Al-Gedaref in eastern Sudan. We talk to the doctor in charge of the project. Dr Dagemlidet WORKU has extensive experience of working with kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis), a disease that is neglected by...

In 2010, southern Sudan battled to contain its biggest kala azar outbreak in eight years, highlighting the urgent need for newer better tools to treat neglected tropical diseases in developing countries. Kala azar, or visceral leishmaniasis, is contracted through the bite of a parasite-carrying...

My name is Thinjin Wal and I have four children. Three of my boys are here at the Malakal Hospital and have all been receiving treatment for kala azar. My youngest boy, Deng, is 2 years old. He became very sick in September with a very high fever that lasted many weeks. He was vomiting, had...

Epidemic compounds existing medical humanitarian crisis As Southern Sudan heads towards a January 9th referendum on secession, it is battling to contain its biggest kala azar outbreak in eight years. The severity of this outbreak is just one symptom of the wider medical humanitarian crisis facing...