Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases. The organisation provides care for diabetes, drug-resistant infections, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, tropical and neglected diseases, tuberculosis, vaccines and COVID-19. In 2019, the charity was active in 70 countries with over 35,000 personnel; mostly local doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, logistical experts, water and sanitation engineers, and administrators. Private donors provide about 90% of the organisation's funding, while corporate donations provide the rest, giving MSF an annual budget of approximately US$1.63 billion.
James Jude Orbinski is a Canadian physician, humanitarian activist, author and leading scholar in global health. Orbinski was the 2016-17 Fulbright visiting professor at the University of California, Irvine, and as of September 1, 2017, he is professor and inaugural director of the Dahdaleh Institute of Global Health Research at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was previously the CIGI Chair in Global Health Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and Wilfrid Laurier University (2012-2017), Chair of Global Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (2010-2012) and full professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto (2003-2012), where he was the founding Saul Rae Fellow at Massey College. Orbinski's current research interests focus on the health impacts of climate change, medical humanitarianism, intervention strategies around emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, and global health governance.
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as kala-azar or "black fever", is the most severe form of leishmaniasis and, without proper diagnosis and treatment, is associated with high fatality. Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania.
Jill Seaman is an American doctor who used to work with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). She is a native of Moscow, Idaho and a graduate of Middlebury College and the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Leishmania donovani is a species of intracellular parasites belonging to the genus Leishmania, a group of haemoflagellate kinetoplastids that cause the disease leishmaniasis. It is a human blood parasite responsible for visceral leishmaniasis or kala-azar, the most severe form of leishmaniasis. It infects the mononuclear phagocyte system including spleen, liver and bone marrow. Infection is transmitted by species of sandfly belonging to the genus Phlebotomus in Old World and Lutzomyia in New World. The species complex it represents is prevalent throughout tropical and temperate regions including Africa, China, India, Nepal, southern Europe, Russia and South America. The species complex is responsible for thousands of deaths every year and has spread to 88 countries, with 350 million people at constant risk of infection and 0.5 million new cases in a year.
Leer is a town in the Leer County of Unity State in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. It is the capital of Leer County and was the capital of the former Southern Liech State. It is the most densely populated county in South Sudan.
Paulino Matip Nhial, or Matiep Nhial, was a military leader and politician in South Sudan.
Fangak County is an administrative area of Jonglei State in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan, with headquarters in the town of Phom el Zaraf.
Gordon Kong Chuol is a former militia commander in South Sudan, who fought for the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and later for the forces led by Riek Machar during the Second Sudanese Civil War.
Mayom is a community in the Mayom County of Unity State, in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. It is located west of Bentiu. It is the headquarters of Mayom County.
Nasir County is an administrative area of Upper Nile State in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. The headquarters is the town of Nasir, on the north side of the Sobat River, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Ethiopian border.
Major General Yohannes Yual Both was a leader of the South Sudan Defense Forces whose mobile forces gave the Sudan People's Liberation Army considerable difficulty during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005).
Tito Biel Chuor was a high-ranking commander in the South Sudan Defense Forces (SSDF) during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005).
Fangak is a community in the Fangak County of Jonglei State, in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. The capital is Old Fangak. It was once a British garrison town. The administration buildings were destroyed during the civil war.
Ethnic violence in South Sudan has a long history among South Sudan's varied ethnic groups. South Sudan has 64 tribes with the largest being the Dinka, who constitute about 35% of the population and predominate in government. The second largest are the Nuers. Conflict is often aggravated among nomadic groups over the issue of cattle and grazing land and is part of the wider Sudanese nomadic conflicts.
Block 5A is an oil concession in South Sudan. After oil field development began during the Second Sudanese Civil War, Block 5A was the scene of extensive fighting as rival militias struggled for control. Out of an original population of 240,000, an estimated 12,000 were killed or died of starvation and 160,000 were displaced by force. Production started in 2006. There is evidence that the environmentally sensitive marshlands beside the Nile are becoming polluted.
Nhialdiu is a large village in the Rubkona County of Unity State, in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. It is located about 40 kilometres (25 mi) southwest of Bentiu.
Doro is a village and a refugee camp in Maban County, Upper Nile State, South Sudan. It was previously a part of Upper Nile state.
Twic County is an administrative area in Warrap State, in the Bahr el Ghazal region of South Sudan. The area has been destroyed by extreme weather, ethnic violence, diseases, and malnutrition.
Evan Atar Adaha is a South Sudanese surgeon who won the Nansen Refugee Award in 2018. Adaha left his physician's job in Egypt to provide healthcare in Sudan during the Second Sudanese Civil War. When violence forced him out of Sudan, he relocated to South Sudan and set up the only hospital in Upper Nile State that provides surgical capacity.
South Sudan