Humanitarian crisis deepens in South Sudan

Aid agencies fear the humanitarian crisis is deepening in South Sudan. Over 12,000 people live in one camp in Juba and the numbers are growing rapidly as people flee the fighting.Malaria, measles and diarrhoea are on the rise due to a lack of clean water and sanitation. The young are vulnerable and aid agencies fear there is not enough medicine to treat the ill.There is just one makeshift clinic in the camp with around 400 patients a day waiting for treatment.Dr. Alain Philip is a vaccination specialist who admits the outbreak of measles is too high and is spreading with people living in such cramped conditions. He reckons over sixty children are being given a jab each day. Complications can set in adding to the huge task he and the medical staff face.Beating the measles is just one problem faced by thousands of children in Africa’s youngest nation. Many have been separated from their families while some – it’s been reported – are being recruited by the warring factions.It’s estimated up to 10,000 have been killed in the fighting which broke out in mid-December.